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Enter this little piece of news in the should-have-seen-this-coming department. Alltel Wireless has became the third wireless carrier to deliver RIM's BlackBerry Tour world smartphone. It follows fellow CDMA/EV-DO operators Sprint and Verizon Wireless in offering this particular BlackBerry model. Although Verizon acquired Alltel earlier this year, allowing it to overtake AT&T as the country's largest mobile operator, Alltel continues to operate as itself in 91 markets Verizon is required to divest. So Alltel will continue to operate as itself until sale agreements with AT&T and Atlantic Tele-Network are approved by the Department of Justice and FCC. The BlackBerry Tour is available from Alltel for $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate and with a 1-year service contract. That's right, only a year. Usually, in the U.S., you have to sign up for at leat two years to get a smartphone of the BlackBerry Tour's caliber. The BlackBerry Tour is a RIM smartphone that works on both a CDMA/EV-DO carrier's network and on mobile networks around the globe. That's because it includes a second 2100 MHz UMTS/HSPA (3G) and quad-band EDGE/GSM/GPRS radio, in addition to the one used to support Sprint/Verizon/Alltel's own CDMA/EV-DO cellular networks. Additional features include a high-resolution display (480 x 360 at 245 ppi) display; a full-size QWERTY thumb keyboard and trackball; the ability to take up to a 16GB microSDHC card; and, o f course, support for corporate and personal email with attachment viewing, a calendar, and integrated address book.
See here for full specifications of the BlackBerry Tour, which measures 4.4 x 2.4 x 0.6 inches and its weighs 4.6 ounces.
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