Probably after having monitored the constantly increasing popularity of Apple Inc.’s iPhone, Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) is now getting ready to launch a touch-screen version for its BlackBerry smartphone.

The upcoming device, code-named Thunder, will be made available in the U.S. exclusively through Verizon Wireless and abroad, through Vodafone. Verizon Wireless, the no. 2 U.S. mobile service, is a venture of Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc.

Earlier this week, the company announced the launch of the new BlackBerry Bold 9000; this was RIM’s first major release in more than one year. Although equipped with a 624-MHz StrongARM processor (for the time being, the most powerful handheld device CPU out there), stereo Bluetooth, 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi and GPS, the Bold 9000 doesn’t have a touch-screen. As Mike Lazaridis, RIM founder and co-CEO, said, the device’s corporate customers prefer physical keyboards. It seems that now, with the touch-screen version, the BlackBerry is being prepared to become more appealing to other target demographics as well.

The company has big plans this year, as another Blackberry smartphone, code named "Meteor," is getting ready to hit the market sometime in August. While the device will be the first phone to use the 3G technology for AT&T, another 3G Blackberry was released for a different type of wireless technology for Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp., as, when comparing the current state of 3G networks, the two carriers are a bit ahead of AT&T.