Hasta La Gadget!

BlackBerry addicts won’t have to wait much longer to get a true browsing experience through their smartphones.

A new BlackBerry browser  based on the Webkit layout engine is on its way and it will be extremely “network efficient,” Research In Motion co-CEO Mike Lazaridis told attendees at the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona Tuesday.  What RIM did not mention is that Webkit layout engine is also used by the iPhone, Android and Symbian mobile operating systems.

“It’s going to be well worth the wait,” says Lazaridis.

The emphasis on network efficiency an interesting spin by a company whose cellphone browser is one of its weakest points. Unlike the iPhone, the Motorola Droid or any other smartphone today, the BlackBerry does not display web pages just the way your PC would. Instead, Blackberry users have to contend with a stripped-down, mobile version of a web page that is decidedly 1990s in its look. In what was seen as an attempt to solve the problem, last year RIM acquired Torch Mobile, which makes the Webkit-based Iris browser.

During his keynote, Lazaridis offered a quick glimpse into what the new browser could look like on the BlackBerry.

A better browser could put RIM on a stronger footing against rivals, writes Shaw Wu, an analyst at Kaufman Bros.  in a research note to his company’s clients.

“Its current web browser is arguably the weakest part of the BlackBerry experience so a new version that will close the gap between Apple’s Safari, Palm’s WebOS browser and Google’s Chrome would be welcome,” says Wu. “We can’t help but wonder how many more units RIM could sell with a quality browse.” RIM sold 10.1 million BlackBerries last quarter compared to Apple’s 8.7 million iPhones.

Lazaridis did not mention when RIM plans to release its new browser. But RIM could make it available as a public beta for its developers in April at the WES 2010 conference, says Wu.

“We believe this makes sense in helping work out kinks and bugs with such an important software release,” he says.

BlackBerrys are also better than other smartphones–for carriers that is–says Lazaridis. A BlackBerry is more efficient, consumes less bandwidth than competing smartphones and scales better than on telecom carrier networks, he says.

“Network operators can support three BlackBerry browsing sessions for every one other smart phone browsing session,” says Lazaridis.

Lazaridis’ comments were meant to highlight what some industry experts see as a possible bandwidth crisis facing the cellphone industry. Based on current data consumption patterns, operators are likely to find their available spectrum completely consumed in the next three to five years, according to analyst Peter Rysavy.

See Also:

• BlackBerry Users See the Fail Whale Twice in Week
• Research In Motion Woos BlackBerry Developers
• Has Research In Motion’s BlackBerry Lost Its Edge?
• 5 Things RIM Needs to Fix in its BlackBerries

Photo: iPhone vs BlackBerry (Andy Mihail/Flickr)