It looks like Motorola is the first to put "back-of-device interaction" into production. That's an idea that HCI researchers including Patrick Baudisch have demonstrated in the past few years (see his nano touch page for details). Putting a touchpad on the back of a device gets your fingers out of the way of the screen and gives potential for more precise interaction as well as new types of gestures.
More at Slashgear and Engadget. (Images from Slashgear.)
p.s. I should have mentioned that the Fuse concept phone also implements this idea (albeit in a prototype). Fuse is a collaboration between Synaptics, TheAlloy, TAT, Immersion, and Texas Instruments: press release, Engadget's coverage.
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