BlackBerry 10 is Going to Have the Best Web Browser of Any Mobile Platform

Wow, if BlackBerry really thinks a better browser will help them retain more customers they really don't get why people prefer iPhone and Android phones. And consulting with the HTML5 team at Facebook which just rushed to quickly rewrite their mobile apps to 100% native apps after failing to leverage an HTML5/Native hybrid approach they are just digging the hole that much more.

The reason the iPhone is so popular is because 1) people are excited about it 2) great native apps make people excited because they do useful or fun things quickly 3) the iPhone is part of a rich ecosystem with services for music and apps. The iPhone ecosystem includes cloud and desktop integration along with support from the top rated e-commerce site as well as local support with award winner retail stores. That great customer service matters a lot to mobile phone customers who often expect a lot from their phones. With BlackBerry you get a phone from a carrier which has a poorly trained sales staff which cannot help you and often does not care. If I have an issue with my iPhone I can go into a nearby Apple Store and have my issues resolved quickly, and if necessary, they give me replacement hardware. And BlackBerry is putting out a better web browser? Better than what? Better than the poor browser they had previously I suppose. Apple has had a great browser from the beginning. BlackBerry does not get it. And if they want to catch up they need to do more than tweak their system. There should be an entire ecosystem built around it, but it is already too late. Android is already eating up all the space which Apple has not and Windows Phone is scrounging for scraps. Very little will be left for BlackBerry. They never innovated after they reached their peak. That's how the mighty fall. I hope Apple keeps innovating. I think they are due to push it this coming year. More integration between the iPhone with other aspects of our lives from TV to our cars would be great and we've already seen rumors that is coming.

I believe it was Elop who said it is now a war of ecosystems. And he was very right.

I don't think having the best web browser is going to do much beyond making life a little easier for early adpoters.

Have you even tried developing for BB10?

Converting a mobile webapp to BB10 to native app takes merely few hours. BB10 supports Phonegap out of the box (their dev tools have simulator for it). They have their own version of something very similar to Phonegap but a little richer. You can port any Phonegap app to BB10 and use their JS API's for deeper integration.

BB10 is RIM betting on HTML5 for native apps as well. If they can optimize the experience nearly as good as native Java apps - this could be the next tide. You gotta look at the future where developing for 5-6 platforms would be a pain. Microsoft is betting on similar approach for Windows 8.

Win is at the next tide - not the one that Apple rode 5 years ago.

I think the strategy is to let the browser be a platform for application development. The better the foundation, the more robust and varied apps developers can build, the stronger the ecosystem.

Looking at it from the perspective of "so what if the browser is standards compliant, users don't care about benchmarks" is a bit short sighted since it's not just about the browser, it's about the foundation of the phone's ecosystem.

That's a big part of my idea of a good web browser, as well.