Just when RIM had pretty much emptied out everything they had been working on lately, like the Style, Bold 9780, and Torch, we’re starting to get wind of the next batch of BlackBerry devices. Vodafone Germany is listing a battery cover for the BlackBerry 9900 in their inventory, which is a device we haven’t really seen about lately. It could be a relic from the first time we heard about the 9900 back in 2008, since the 9900 eventually became the Torch 9800 – maybe whoever’s in charge of inventory just never bothered to change it. Alternatively, this could be the model number RIM is going with for the PlayBook tablet, or, if you’re feeling optimistic, this could be the first sign of RIM’s next smartphone. I’m hesitant to peg this as the Storm 3, since I would think they would keep it in the 9500 family, but you never know.

The door’s pretty much wide open for speculation without any further proof, but personally I’m going to hold out for another sign of this mysterious BlackBerry before jumping to any conclusions. Odds are if it’s something new, we won’t see it until the summer. Anyone want to take a stab at a guess?