RIM Buys "BlackPad.com", Presumably As A Home For The BlackBerry Tablet

Unless someone at Research In Motion is taking the time to screw with all of us, it looks like we might have an official name for their long-rumored BlackBerry tablet project: BlackPad.

Word of the name comes not from a disgruntled employee, nor from a prototype left at a bar; this one’s straight out of a good ol’ fashion WHOIS lookup on a domain. According to registration records, RIM purchased BlackPad.com just days ago.

How RIM obtained the domain still isn’t completely clear. The domain swapped hands at least once before, and has been squatted by one person or another since January of 2002. I’m not able to find any trademarks for the “BlackPad” name, so it seems unlikely that RIM could have squeezed it out of the previous owner’s hands without a bit of cash.

As is to be expected for an unannounced and mostly unofficial project, the domain currently doesn’t resolve to anything.

Interestingly, the name “BlackPad” has been surrounding the rumored tablet for almost as long as the rumors have existed. Some have chalked it up as a code name, while others insist it’s the name it’ll ship with — either way, RIM seems to have interest in protecting it.

With that said, lets go ahead and get the unavoidable argument started now: BlackPad — Good name? Bad name? Duke it out in the comments below.

[Thanks for the tip, Mr. Canada!]