Commentary
BlackBerry Browser To Support Both Flash And Silverlight?
Well, this would be a pretty big coup for Research In Motion, if true. According to a report, future versions of the BlackBerry browser would support not only full Adobe Flash, but Microsoft's Silverlight, as well. That would make it a pretty powerful browser, indeed.Well, this would be a pretty big coup for Research In Motion, if true. According to a report, future versions of the BlackBerry browser would support not only full Adobe Flash, but Microsoft's Silverlight, as well. That would make it a pretty powerful browser, indeed.The BlackBerry browser continues to be one of the platform's weaker links. Sure, devices such as the Bold, Tour and Storm offer full HTML Web browsing, but the experience is sub-par when compared to that of other devices on the market. What's worse is that good third-party Web browsers for the BlackBerry are few and far between (well, pretty much non-existent). That's what makes this information -- coming from Boy Genius -- so interesting.
According to Boy Genius Report, it is "pretty much confirmed" that Research In Motion plans to integrate full Flash support and Silverlight support into a future version of the BlackBerry browser. That would enable it to offer end users a much richer experience as they browse the Web and view certain embedded video content.
More Mobility Insights
White Papers
- How To Regain IT Control In An Increasingly Mobile World - by BlackBerry
- Red Alert: Why Tablet Security Matters - by BlackBerry
Reports
- Mobility’s Next Challenge: 8 Steps to a Secure Environment
- Time to Move: How to Ensure 'Mobility' Translates to 'Agility'
Webcasts
- Maximize ROI with Database Consolidation onto Private Clouds
- The ABC's of Cloud Computing in the Midmarket
The one disappointment is that this functionality won't actually be seen on handsets until the second half of 2010. Why the long wait? Well, for one, the wireless networks themselves need to up capacity and bandwidth and reduce latency to make the technology worthwhile to deploy. It also appears as though RIM needs to endow its devices with faster processors and other hardware necessities to make this all work.
Flash support has been a pain point for a lot of the mobile browsers out there. The iPhone's browser, for example, doesn't support Flash content, and this has led to a lot of criticism of what Apple claims is the iPhone's "true Web" performance.
There's no doubt that the mobile Web experience is better by leaps and bounds when compared to what was available just two years ago. Think about how much better things will be two years from now.
Related Reading
| To upload an avatar photo, first complete your Disqus profile. | View the list of supported HTML tags you can use to style comments. | Please read our commenting policy. | |
|
|
T-Shirt Giveaway: Each week we're selecting one great comment from our readers. The author of the comment will receive an InformaitonWeek Community t-shirt. So get posting! |
Subscribe to RSSResource Links
This Week's Issue
Technology Whitepapers
- Mobile BI: Actionable Intelligence for the Agile Enterprise
- Creating the Enterprise-Class Tablet Environment - by Yankee Group
- The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet's Good Bones - by BlackBerry
- Red Alert: Why Tablet Security Matters - by BlackBerry
- New Visual and Wizard-Driven Paradigms for Exploring Data and Developing Analytic Workflows
Featured Resource
This white paper focuses on the critical need to manage outbound content sent via various avenues including email, Instant Messages, text messages, tweets, and Facebook posts. Read More












