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Talk about a major sale, AT&T has sold 5,400 Blackberries to the US Postal Service. That is a ton of devices. Wow.

“WASHINGTON, Oct. 3, 2007 – AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) has announced that the United States Postal Service (USPS^�) has selected AT&T to support the agency’s initiative to wirelessly enable enterprise applications for more efficient operations. As part of this initiative, AT&T will initially provide new wireless data devices and services to 5,400 employees nationwide. AT&T’s wireless solution for USPS includes BlackBerry^� 8800 series handsets for postal managers and key staff.

“Technology initiatives such as this help USPS streamline operations across the nation,” said Bob Otto, who oversaw implementation of the initiative for USPS as chief technology officer and vice president. “In addition to immediate voice and data communication improvements, this wireless solution allows USPS to explore location-based tracking, asset and supply acquisition, IT support and video training applications – all to be delivered on the mobile device.”

Initially, employees equipped with the new wireless handsets will have access to e-mail and other postal applications wirelessly, as they have since 2001 when USPS began using wireless data services.  USPS will implement additional applications based on the needs of the organization.

“Wireless enterprise devices and services provide the opportunity to expand the reach of office applications to workers who are on-the-go and create the flexibility to develop new applications specifically suited for these workers,” said Chris Hill, vice president, Government Solutions Group, AT&T’s wireless unit. “USPS has thousands of employees who are away from desktop computers for long periods of time. Any application that allows for enhanced productivity can save hours of time and increase the efficiency of the agency.”

The BlackBerry 8800 Series device features the thinnest BlackBerry design, a full and highly tactile QWERTY keyboard, user-friendly trackball navigation system, voice and data functionality, built-in Global Positioning System (GPS) and an expandable memory slot. The BlackBerry 8820, which is proposed for the phase two deployment later this year at USPS, is the first dual-mode BlackBerry handset; it combines EDGE/GPRS/GSM cellular and Wi-Fi connectivity for flexible data access.

AT&T is the world’s leading provider of BlackBerry services, and USPS employees will be using their BlackBerry handsets within the broadest domestic and international coverage area for wireless data services of any U.S. carrier. In the United States, USPS employees will have wireless access via AT&T’s nationwide* EDGE network, the largest high speed national wireless data network in the U.S., with availability in more than 13,000 cities and towns and along some 40,000 miles of major highways.”

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Chris Leckness is the Owner/Administrator of Mobilitysite. He is a Microsoft MVP, Mobile Devices and a member of the exclusive focus group, Mobius. Chris runs a Mobilitysite, GotZune, and a few other smaller sites and blogs. His personal blog is chris.leckness.com.