RIM Closer to Unveiling Tablet PC, Buys blackpad.com

Canadian mobile phone maker Research In Motion has been long rumored to be on its way to bringing to the market its very own BlackBerry tablet, and it seems that the company might actually be closer than expected from doing so. Recently, the smartphone designer purchase the blackpad.com domain, a move that for many means only one thing, namely that RIM is gearing up for the release of the said slate.

For the time being, however, little is known on how exactly did RIM purchase the domain, since it exchanged hands before, at least once since January 2002, a recent article on MobileCrunch notes. It seems that the BlackPad name hasn't been trademarked before, which means that RIM might have received the domain without sweating too much.

For what it's worth, the BlackPad name did emerge previously related to the rumored BlackBerry tablet from Research In Motion, even if nothing was officially confirmed for the time being. This is one of the names RIM is expected to choose for the device, just as Apple named its slate iPad, but it might not be the only option in the end.

As far as the rumors on RIM's tablet PC go, we should be able to have it in our hands as soon as next year, if not sooner. Moreover, a 7-inch touchscreen display is expected to be include into the mix, along with back and front-facing cameras. The tablet should be powered by a 1GHz processor, which means that RIM took into consideration the performance levels it would be able to offer to users.

The launch of tablet computers is quite a common move these days, as many leading companies were rumored to or announced plans to launch such solutions, including Dell, Motorola, HP and Nokia. The large touchscreen displays these devices boost seem highly appealing, especially since they can offer functionalities on par with those of laptop computers, though in a lighter form factor.

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