BlackBerry Browser To Support Both Flash And Silverlight?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.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.

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.