Financial thoughts

Research in Motion Ltd. is reportedly working on a touchscreen Blackberry smartphone with a slide-out keyboard and a tablet computing rival to Apple Inc.'s iPad.

The Wall Street Journal cited unnamed sources in a report Tuesday on RIM's (NASDAQ:RIMM) attempts to develop new products to compete with Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) popular lines.

The new smartphone runs on a new version of the BlackBerry operating system, the Journal reported, includes the ability to read finger gestures to expand and contract images and move through screens low fee payday loans.

The new tablet device connects to cellular networks via a BlackBerry phone, the paper reported, and could come out by the end of the year.

RIM's North American smartphone market share plunged to 38 percent in the March quarter from 54 percent a year earlier, while Apple's share grew to 23 percent from 18 percent.

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