BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) has acquired Toronto-based web browser company Torch Mobile in an apparent bid to beef up the BlackBerry mobile browser. Torch Mobile’s flagship product is the ‘Iris Browser,’ which is based on the WebKit rendering engine, the same system used in Apple’s Safari (the iPhone’s browser), Symbian and Google’s Chrome. In a brief statement on its website, Torch Mobile said that its team of developers will join RIM’s global organisation and will now be focused on “utilising our WebKit-based mobile browser expertise to contribute to the ongoing enhancement of the BlackBerry platform.” Financial details were not disclosed.

The Iris Browser is specifically designed to function in “resource-constrained environments,” including mobile phones, set-top boxes, mobile Internet devices, portable media players, Ultra-Mobile PCs and other embedded devices, the company said. Industry-watchers have seen the move as an admission by RIM that the BlackBerry browser has failed to keep pace with browsers on competing devices. However, it is unclear if RIM intends to replace its current browser with Iris or combine the two.