Today, The Wall Street Journal confirmed rumors that RIM will be releasing a touch-screen enabled device to compete head-to-head with Apple's iPhone. It will be called the Thunder, and will be sold exclusively through Verizon Wireless and Vodafone.

If you thought the Bold, announced on Monday, was an iPhone killer, you'd be wrong. The Thunder (once again spied by The Boy Genius) is the real iPhone killer from RIM.

Few concrete details by The Wall Street Journal's sources, but this is what we know for certain. The phone will be able to access 3G networks both in the United States and abroad. Right now, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone use different technologies. Verizon uses CDMA-based EV-DO, and Vodafone uses GSM-based HSDPA. Both have planned to build out LTE (4G) networks in the future. RIM did not confirm that the Thunder would support LTE. The Boy Genius surmises it will.

Sources say the phone will be available in the third quarter of this year. That's within the next 5 months. That's coming up fast. It will be right on the heels of the 3G iPhone, if it is ever announced. Partnering exclusively with Verizon (No. 2 to AT&T's No. 1 position in the market) will give Verizon and RIM some real firepower against AT&T and Apple. If it can roam to overseas networks, all the better. This could be an attempt by RIM to expand its core user base outside of the U.S. Creating devices that can access foreign 3G networks is vital for that.

Of course, if it is to be a real iPhone killer, it will need an incredible touch-based user interface. Given how small and detailed many of the menus in the BlackBerry OS are, this could be a challenge for RIM. It will need to make significant adjustments to its platform in order for this to work. It also will need to pack in some serious media playback capabilities.

I guess we'll know more in a few short months.