BlackBerry gets sexy: RIM acquires Swedish design firm TAT

December 2, 2010 8:04 AM
Devindra Hardawar
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BlackBerry-maker RIM announced today that it’s acquiring Swedish design firm The Astonishing Tribe (TAT) to help sex up the user interface of its newest mobile operating system.

TAT is well-known for its attractive user interfaces. The company was chosen by Google to polish the interface of its first Android phone, the G1. That device wasn’t particularly attractive on the outside, but TAT’s interface design made it seem more like a legitimate competitor to the iPhone at the time. TAT has also designed a 3D Android home screen, and was selected by Fujitsu to design the interface for its upcoming dual-screen phone.

RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet will be its first device to sport RIM’s new OS, which is based on software that RIM acquired from QNX. It promises to bring RIM into the modern age for mobile user interfaces with a focus on touchscreens and media. Eventually, the new OS will find its way to other BlackBerry devices. That’s a good thing, because as the BlackBerry Torch shows, RIM can only continue to stretch its existing BlackBerry OS so far.

That RIM bought TAT, instead of just contracting its services, is a sign that it’s taking mobile interface design more seriously than ever. It’s also a loss for other platforms — Android in particular — as I don’t suspect TAT will continue to produce any new design work outside of RIM.

  • Riley12

    I think this is a great move for RIM, they really needed to make a major change to their UI to attract the consumer. However, this raises a very important question for TAT’s customers. It’s obvious that RIM has no intention in supplying their competitors with TATs technology and services so now who do they turn too?Who are the TAT alternatives or TAT replacements? Surprisingly the list is short other than internal developments. You may consider Mentor Graphics Inflexion UI, Ikivo has a home screen widget solutions based on the old SVG standard, Acrodea – has a 3D ui system mostly for the Japanese domestic market servicing DoCoMo and KDDI. There also a few new companies bound to crop up such as YOU i Labs and their uSwish UI framework which seems to have caused quite a stir.If you are using TAT – where are you going to go now?

  • http://www.devindra.org Devindra Hardawar

    Yah that really seems to be the question. Not only did RIM get a good design firm for themselves, they also did a good job at blocking access to it by their competitors.

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