A Research in Motion (RIM) patent application points to the possibility of a touchscreen BlackBerry in the near future.

Because the patent application was published only four months after it was filed, as opposed to the typical 18-month waiting period, it’s possible that the production of a touchscreen BlackBerry could be right on the horizon.

The first line of the patent’s abstract reads:

A touchscreen liquid crystal display, method for using a liquid crystal display as a user input, and a mobile electronic device are provided.

Could it be a fake?

A commenter on ZDNet suggests that RIM could just be “spin doctoring” in an attempt to throw off its competitor, Apple.

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LG has filed a patent for a flip phone with two touchscreens: one in place of the standard display, and another in place of the keypad.

The patent says the touchscreens can work separately or together. This allows for some interesting possibilities.

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Not that the Zune phone would be a threat to the iPhone, but Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has downplayed rumors that the company would be creating any sort of Zune mobile phone. Instead, Ballmer said, Microsoft will focus on adding Zune features to Windows Mobile handhelds.

Enough about that. It’s not that I’ve got an Apple bias, just that I’ve always thought the Zune was Microsoft’s desperate attempt at jumping into the PMP market a little too late. By today’s standards, the Zune is already big and clunky, and not very innovative.

This post needn’t be lengthy because the concept image of the interface on Microsoft’s possibly upcoming Zune phone speaks for itself.

The image is from a patent filed by Microsoft last June, so I’m not suggesting that Microsoft borrowed the icons-on-a- touchscreen concept from Apple.

Wired thinks it’s simply a matter of “some ideas seem to have their time and pop up in different places simultaneously, just like the TV which popped up independently on both sides of the Atlantic at the same time.”

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Apple recently filed for a patent that would turn a mobile phone into a “universal remote control [that] needs no special knowledge about the appliance,” according to the patent filing.

Basic concept drawings (shown right - click the image for a larger view) show a device shaped much like Apple’s iPhone.

That means you might be able to use your iPhone to control your TV and computer, to navigate through PowerPoint slide show presentations, and even to maneuver through Apple’s iTunes store.

“The mobile phone can be used to control popular programs such as iTunes,” Apple wrote in the patent filing.

The question is will this feature be available on the iPhone in June or will we have to wait for iPhone 2.0?