• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, December 2, 2010

Aiming to enliven the on-screen experience of its devices, BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion Thursday announced that it has acquired Swedish mobile interface designer The Astonishing Tribe. Known as TAT, the company is expected to bring its user-interface expertise to the BlackBerry operating system and devices including its latest Torch smartphone and forthcoming PlayBook tablet computer.

"For those who don't know, TAT is renowned for their innovative mobile user interface (UI) designs and has a long history of working with mobile and embedded technology," wrote David Yach, chief technology officer at RIM in a blog post . "TAT focuses on delivering great user experiences, from a design, technology, and usability perspective."

On its Web site, the company boasts of powering user interfaces on 20% of all touch phones and 15% of all mobile phones shipped in 2010. It has also worked with a variety of hardware and software companies including Samsung, Google, Motorola and T-Mobile. TAT, which has developed a custom Android homescreen, earlier this month rolled out three free interactive wallpapers for Android devices as a way to showcase its work.

"We can't wait to see what this talented team of seasoned veterans can do for the PlayBook and for RIM's future phones," noted mobile tech blog BGR in a Thursday post. BlackBerry customers may appreciate like handsets with keyboards, but the devices never been known for compelling user interfaces. RIM was seen as taking a step closer to competing with the iPhone and Android in that respect with BlackBerry 6, the latest version of its OS launched with the Torch in August.

The PlayBook, expected to debut in early 2011, will run the new BlackBerry Tablet OS, which RIM has said it will eventually replace the current smartphone operating system as well. The tablet platform is built on technology from QNX Software Systems, which RIM acquired earlier this year and makes software used in everything from air traffic control systems to in-dash radios.

Whether the TAT crew can help infuse the PlayBook display with enough design flair to make it a viable rival to the iPad will be something to watch next year.