The patent image below shows RIM’s idea of combining both large touch-screen and a full sized slide QWERTI keyboard on their future handsets. As you can see RIM is thinking of the HTC TvTN style smartphone which should draw both enterprise and multimedia demanding users.
As with nearly all patents the fact there is some technology patented apparently means nothing, this patent actually dates back as far as mid 06. However, RIM is onto something, and most know with the intro of Apple’s iPhone every handset maker is turning to interface design.
There are whispers about that not into the too distant future the world will see a touch-screen BlackBerry, and well the logical next step would be the addition of a full QWERTY keyboard as well.
Source - electronista
