The elusive HTC Merge has been on our radar since last fall, and while it’s been officially announced, played with, and FCC approved, carrier availability has been all but a mystery — until now that is. Alltel is presently taking pre-orders for the Merge with a price of $125 on contract (after $50 mail-in rebate) and a ship date of April 5th. Meanwhile, Cellular South is launching the Merge “next month” for an undisclosed price, but will offer the handset pre-loaded with the Amazon Appstore for Android — a world first.

Strangely, there’s still no indication when (or even if) the device will emerge on Verizon. Just a quick recap: the Merge is a global smartphone (dual-mode CDMA / GSM) with a slide-out keyboard, 3.8-inch touchscreen, and 5 megapixel autofocus camera, running Android 2.2 with Sense UI. Hit the source link below for Alltel’s pre-order page, and jump past the break for Cellular South’s press release.

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