Blackberry Tablet with concealable keyboard in the pipeline?

Is it conceivable that Research In Motion (RIM), the company that is behind the Blackberry brand, is working on a possible Blackberry laptop? Well, stranger things have happened in the past that was once deemed impossible (like Windows running on a Mac), but this recently filed patent showed off the possibility of RIM developing a kind of tablet that would resemble the Windows-powered Surface from Microsoft, and most would deem this to be a hybrid device that is a cross between a tablet and a laptop.

RIM flexed their creative muscles with this hybrid, throwing in a concealable keyboard to boot, with the patent describing the idea as follows, right after the jump.

An electronic device having a concealed keyboard includes a first housing, a second housing rotatably coupled to the first housing, and a concealment cover coupled to a rear of the first housing. The first housing has a coupling edge and two sides that are substantially perpendicular to the coupling edge of the first housing. The second housing has a coupling edge and two sides that are substantially perpendicular to the coupling edge of the second housing. A receiving portion is formed on a rear surface of the first housing and is configured to receive the second housing. When the second housing is in the receiving portion, each respective side of the first housing and the second housing are co-terminal with one another. The concealment cover is exteriorly positioned with respect to the second housing when the second housing is in the receiving portion.

Well, if RIM has a keyboard-less smartphone in the works, who are we to say that they will not introduce a tablet/laptop hybrid with a concealed keyboard down the road?

Edwin Kee
Categories: Computers, Tablets
Tags: BlackBerry, Patent, RIM