I have got to tell you, this really woke me up before having my coffee. What is potentially a touch screen BlackBerry, the BlackBerry Thunder, has been outed in a rumor. The device, which is of the model number 9500, will be all touch, with no physical keyboard. In fact, the device will only have four hard keys, send, end, menu, and back.

As far as specifications, it is unclear if it is a capacitive or a resistive touch screen. According to the rumor, outed by Boy Genius Report, the device will be a life long exclusive for Verizon Wireless and Vodafone. What’s more, the two networks will have the exact same model. Meaning this things has EV-DO, HSPA, GSM, CDMA, and according to the rumor, UMB.

I know how hard it is to not get very excited over this, but lets all calm down. First off, the device will likely be tri or dual band GSM to keep it exclusive, which will render the device useless on GSM networks here in the U.S. Well tri band T-Mobile could use it, but to keep it exclusive, it could very well be dual band GSM, dual band CDMA. As crazy as it sounds, to get in on the action here, you might just have to switch to Verizon.

Also, UMB is all but dead in the 4G race. This would make no sense as Verizon and Vodafone are going LTE, and will probably be switched out. To me, the fact that it is mentioned makes this rumor sound a little shady. Also, a lifetime exclusivity agreement? No way, not for such a hot device. RIM is not going to just drop all the potential revenue in sales and subscriber numbers. It would take very large amounts of cash to make this happen, and though possible, it sounds unlikely it will go down that way. The rumor says the exclusivity will drop if a certain amount are not sold, but that still does not sound all too likely of a scenario.

It is not clearly known when the device will launch. According to the rumors, the device is in very early stages. According to the rumor though, we could see the device as early as Q3. Verizon subscribers, you may now celebrate.

UPDATE 6/8/08

RIM’s iPhone killer was conveniently seen in the wild by the folks over at the Boy Genius Report a day before Steve Jobs will take the stage at Apple’s WWDC to introduce the 3G iPhone version 2.0. BGR is claiming this is a live shot of the final device, which could hit store shelves and Apple’s bottom line sometime in September. It looks very similar to a striking resemblance to the minimalistic mock-ups that were floating around in May, and the Verizon exclusivity rumor appears to be true(er). [Boy Genius Report]

[Via Boy Genius Report]