An obvious trend that has emerged in the last few years is that people like smartphones with giant touchscreens and they’re getting less interested in having physical keyboards. While e-mail remains at the heart of the BlackBerry business, RIM recognizes that touchscreens are the present and the future. And that’s why the upcoming QNX-powered Colt superphone will be all touchscreen.

At least, that’s what the rumors are leading us to believe. Apparently, the BlackBerry Colt will be RIM’s equivalent to the emerging Android superphones with touchscreens of four inches or bigger. Maybe. At least we’re hearing that the Colt will rock a display that’s “possibly” bigger than 3.7-inches. Unlike the current Storm and Torch, the BlackBerry Colt sounds like it’ll do away with the trackpad too.

Naturally, the QNX operating system — which currently runs the PlayBook tablet — will be the real star here and that’s possibly why many RIM fans are holding off on BB7 devices. Oddly though, the Colt is rumored to have just a single core 1GHz processor. Considering that the BlackBerry superphone won’t launch until Q1 2012, that puts it in a similar release window as NVIDIA Tegra 3 “Kal-El”… which is a quad core mobile processor. Much like the PlayBook, will the Colt be a matter of too little, too late, missed the boat and doesn’t even have a paddle?

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It’s obvious enough to just about anyone that Research in Motion has seen brighter days. The BlackBerry line of devices is very clearly playing second (third?) fiddle to iOS and Android. July was a rough month for the boys and girls in Waterloo, laying off workers and losing market share. Yet somehow, the stock price continues to rise in August. (Check the 1 month view.) Why?

Tim Carmody of Wired has outlined four possible reasons why investors are suddenly starting to feel cheerfully optimistic about RIM… and a lot of it has to do with the recent Google-Motorola deal. For instance, he proposed that RIM could be positioning itself to be up for purchase, not unlike Motorola. Apple, Samsung, and Microsoft are all possible candidates for that acquisition. Even if that doesn’t happen, a “strategic partnership” could form, not unlike the deal between Microsoft and Nokia. If Microsoft plays nice, it could have heavy interest in both Waterloo and Finland.

Just as Motorola split its company into two earlier this year, RIM could also be gearing up to split off its IP holdings or its logistics and solutions division into a separate company. Investors could then choose where they want to be.

Personally, I think one of the biggest reasons why stock traders are suddenly thinking RIM is a good bet is that the Moto-Google deal could throw the Android ecosystem into quite the state of flux. Other Android device makers have publicly stated their support of the deal, but privately, they’re probably gritting their teeth. If big players like Samsung and HTC feel their Android business is being threatened, RIM could swoop in and capitalize on that uncertainty.

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