Skyfire To Possibly Bring Version 2.0 Browser To BlackBerry Smartphones Running OS 6.0…Why?

By Mauricio

I’m sure many of you remember how Skyfire completely dumped BlackBerry smartphones in favor of other platforms. They re-started up their alpha testing back in August 2009 only to bail this past April. They tried to explain that the BlackBerry developer environment was basically not friendly to which I said they shouldn’t just give up because another platform is easier to deal with. Especially as a company, they should want to have a big subscriber base like BlackBerry users and their efforts to develop on multiple platforms (even the difficult ones) would only show they’ve got what it takes as a software development company. Here’s what they’re now saying:

We do expect to bring Skyfire 2.0 to additional platforms, and have begun discussions with some carriers and OEMs to decide which will be our next OS. Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 7 and Nokia’s MeeGo platform are both shaping up as platforms with a lot of potential and the recent launch of the new Blackberry OS 6 with a WebKit browser core makes for interesting potential for a future release of Skyfire 2.0.

While it’s not a clear confirmation, this statement does show that Skyfire intends to check out the latest offerings from the BlackBerry platform. My question is: Why? BlackBerry 6 already comes with a more than capable browser that I’m sure will continuously receive improvements in OS updates. Maybe they want to have a presence with the new OS since it is so improved or maybe they want to get in on some BlackBerry PlayBook and QNX OS action.

Whatever the underlying reason may be, I’m sure we’ll hear more from them soon enough. What do you all think, is it pointless for Skyfire to release a version of their browser app for BlackBerry OS 6? Remember, devices with earlier OS versions will not get the app.