RIM's iPhone-wannabe touchscreen BlackBerry, the 9500, has made an early appearance on the web, complete with specs.

The new handset - which is still down as "not announced" on Expansys' website - is described as possessing a "stunning touch screen display, rapid 3G connectivity coupled with the popular BlackBerry instant email support.

RIM's BlackBerry 9500: 'Then they stole Murphy's Thunder...'

It will apparently run BlackBerry OS 4.7 - the unreleased Bold, aka the 9000, runs 4.6 - and provide quad-band GSM/GPRS/Edge connectivity, along with HSDPA 3G and Wi-Fi.

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Alas there's nothing in the published details to indicate whether, as has been claimed, the 9500 - codenamed 'Thunder' - will support some kind of 4G connectivity.

The 9500 piccy appears less iPhone-like than past Photoshop mock-ups that have surfaced on the web did. To be honest, we suspect this one has known a virtual brush-stroke or two - some of the lines don't quite match up. We suspect this is a composite of a Pearl and bits from a few other BlackBerries.

There's no word when the 9500 - whatever it looks like - will appear, but it's rumoured to be due sometime this quarter.