A pair of recent patent applications illustrate a couple of different directions Research In Motion (RIM) could take its BlackBerry handhelds in the future.

While both applications set forth radical new BlackBerry designs, they don't deviate from the mob-e-mail leader's preference for hardware-based keypads/keyboards; important contributors to the BlackBerry's popularity and just one of several reason we don't expect Apple's entry into the mobile handset market will effect RIM's position all that much, if at all. That’s because the iPhone uses a soft keyboard.

The first patent, called "Mobile Device with Rotatable Keyboard," was submitted United States Patent Office early last month, The Unwired reports. It shows a BlackBerry (see below) that's quite different from today's QWERTY thumb-keyboard or SureType keypad/keyboard - where a single key supports letters and numbers - models.

As the title says, this smartphones features an innovative rotatable design. Rotate the keyboard one-way - to make a phone call - and you get numeric keypad. Turn it the other way - in a landscape orientation - and you’re all set to type an e-mail or SMS message.

RIM's second patent, titled “Multiple Keyword Context Sensitivity for Application Usage," takes a butterfly keyboard approach similar to what Nokia uses in the E70 smartphone and earlier 6800 feature phones. And we must not forget the originator of concept: IBM with the ThinkPad 701C, which it stopped producing over ten years ago.

This patent conceptualizes a BlackBerry that looks like a typical candy bar-style mobile handset, with a standard keypad just below the display. It has a full QWERTY thumb-keyboard hidden round back, however. Simply flip the keyboard perpendicular to the rest of the phone and you’re ready to type away.

While the patents outlined above are interesting, there's no guarantee they'll make it into RIM's product line, of course.