Little is known the BlackPad, Research In Motion's upcoming entry into the Great Tablet Race, but a new rumor suggests that that could all change next week.  According to "people familiar with RIM's plans," the BlackBerry manufacturer may unveil the BlackPad as early as next week, which just so happens to be when BlackBerry DevCon 2010 is taking place.  After the reveal, the BlackPad will supposedly launch sometime in Q4 of this year.  There were also some possible specs given for RIM's tablet, including a 7-inch touchscreen, one or two cameras, Bluetooth, and WiFi.  However, the BlackPad is said to require users to connect a BlackBerry smartphone to have access to cellular data.  Finally, RIM is said to be eschewing the BlackBerry 6 OS for the tablet, opting instead to use an entirely new platform that will be created by QNX Software Systems, which we heard about a month ago.

The BlackPad has been a long time coming, and I'm excited to finally see RIM acknowledge their tablet.  All of the information given in the report seems to match up with rumors we've heard in the past, including the Q4 release window.  A possible November launch has popped up in the past, and now that news seems more likely than ever.  This would give RIM enough time to get the BlackPad in front of plenty of customers and help them push holiday sales of the device. Now the only question is this: which name do you prefer for RIM's tablet? BlackPad? SurfBook? TaBerry? Or something entirely different?

Via PhoneScoop, Wall Street Journal