Rumor: Touchscreen BlackBerry slider in the pipeline?

blackberrytouchpatent

Yay, rumors! Today’s fun rumor comes courtesy of one Mr. Shaw Wu, a Kaufman Bros. analyst, who believes (thanks to his sources in the supply chain) that a BlackBerry 9900 has not only hit the prototype phase, but also features an entirely new form factor for RIM – a touchscreen slider.

The mystical BlackBerry is said to be some sort of Storm-meets-classic-Blackberry-meets-slider concoction. As IntoMobile points out, the above patent image clearly gives some hint at what a legitimate BlackBerry slider could look like.

The purported next-gen ‘Berry is expected to be revealed sometime in 2010. But until we see an actual prototype (come on Mr. Blurry cam, help a brother out!), this is all just pure speculation for the time being.