I think RIM is probably going to add touchscreen capabilities eventually. As long as it's a big leap ahead like the iPhone, the touchscreen may be acceptable to certain audiences. I can really say that if I was forced to use a touchscreen, that user-interface techniques used on the iPhone is vastly better than the user-interface techniques used on Windows Mobile and Palm devices.

Not to worry -- just like SureType models are made available -- there will always be QWERTY hard-key BlackBerries too.

Depending on how brilliant the design is, my ideal BlackBerry might be an iPhone-like BlackBerry with a built-in hard thumb keyboard. But I'd like to be able to turn off the touch screen anytime -- i.e. it should be just useful for optionally assisting in panning/scrolling/zooming/hyperlink clicks (ala iPhone style), and not being foced to have to use a touchscreen for say, to compose, reply, send emails, etc. And be resistant to accidental-taps, so it doesn't go beserk when accidentally put into a pocket without keylock, for example.