As expected, RIM has acquired Gist, a company that offers an e-mail and meeting service which ranks and prioritizes incoming messages, as well as offers web-based contextual info about who’s contacting you. Gist figures out who’s most important to you based on how often you interact, and farms up data from blogs and social networks so you know what’s going on with people before launching into your correspondence. There are obvious applications here that aren’t too dissimilar from the Priority Gmail Inbox on Android, but Gist will likely integrate deep into the native BlackBerry calendar and contact apps as well. It seems likely that these guys will take over the Social Feeds app that launched on OS 6 to conglomerate Twitter, Facebook, and instant messaging status updates. On the announcement, Gist said:

“We are extremely excited about our future at RIM and how Gist will be used by millions of BlackBerry users around the globe. This is a huge step towards our goal of utilizing the web-based Gist experience to allow users to build stronger professional relationships.”

They’ll be joining The Astonishing Tribe, QNX, Viigo, Torch Mobile, Chalk Media, and Dash Navigation as yet another tiny but innovative company to join RIM’s ranks, but the big question is how or when we’ll see the fruits of the partnership. Gist has an iPhone and Android app available, so check it out if you want to get a feel for what’s coming soon to BlackBerry.

via Inside BlackBerry