Even though it’s been out for less than a week, I think that it is safe to say that the Palm Pre is an initial success.  The Pre has a long way to go before it catches up with the iPhone or the BlackBerry, however, Palm has brought something new to the table in the way of it’s full landscape touchscreen and its physical slide-out keyboard.

I’ve been saying for almost a couple of years now that RIM should come out with a BlackBerry Slider and now that a legitimate competitor to the BlackBerry has one, I imagine that it is only a matter of time before they do.  We know that RIM has already put out a few patents for mobile devices with slide out keyboards.  We’ve even seen leaked BlackBerry product road maps that refer specifically to a ‘Storm Slider’ targeting European markets this year.

I believe that it is inevitable that both RIM and Apple will eventually offer devices with slide-out keyboards.  The big question that I have, is which one will do it first?