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What’s missing from RIM right now? They’ve got that successful Storm handset, they even have a clamshell phone, with some business appeal and who knows what else they’ll launch in 2009… Hopefully, not something using their latest patent application, which you can check out below.

Imagine a candybar Pearl with an expandable keypad that unfolds on the device’s side and increases the space that’s available for texting and some business features.

Sadly, the result is not even a SureType keyboard on that narrow handset, so we sure hope the patent remains a strange idea from the R&D crew and nothing more.

[via Engadget Mobile]