Surely you’ve heard by now that the BlackBerry Storm, the first BlackBerry with a touchscreen is about to be released tomorrow, November 21st, on Verizon.  I don’t think that there is any question that the BlackBerry Storm is the big thing for RIM this year.

This is not to say that the BlackBerry Storm is the only device coming out of Research in Motion in 2008.  The BlackBerry Pearl Flip on T-Mobile, the BlackBerrry Bold on AT&T, and before the end of the year, the BlackBerry 8350i on Nextel, will all have made their debuts this year.  To be honest, it is actually quite rare for all four major carries to receive a new device in the same year.

I’ve written dozens of posts about the BlackBerry Storm and you’ve written hundreds of comments about it, but, like with all BlackBerrys that have come before it, we eventually move on and start to talk about what’s next for RIM.

Now, I am willing to bet that because of just how different the BlackBerry Storm is from all the BlackBerry devices that have come before it, we will probably continue to talk about it for some time to come, however, there is nothing like speculating about what type of device will come out of RIM next and I don’t imagine that it will take too long for the rumors to start flying.

As a matter of fact, rumors about a BlackBerry Bold like device with a touchscreen have already starting making their way around the internet.  If I could, however, throw my two cents out there about rumors I would love to start hearing, it would be about a BlackBerry with a touchscreen and a slide-out keyboard.