This year is a busy one for consumers looking for high-end smartphones. If you’re not set for an iPhone 2.0 purchase, there’s quite a number of tempting alternatives, one of which is RIM’s rumored BlackBerry 9500 dubbed “Thunder.” Thunder will be RIM’s first touch screen phone. It’s as good as shipped, according to Horizon Wireless Online, which is offering the phone pre-shipping. They even had a blurry photo displayed on the product page… that is, until someone told them to pull it out. Now the photo is gone. The Thunder seems to be out of stock as well. According to Horizon Wireless, the photo will be back online soon and pre-selling could begin anew as early as August 11. Oh well, so much for early birds.

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