LEWISTON – Local sellers say they’re seeing rising demand for BlackBerry phones, possibly linked to the president-elect’s attachment to the popular gadget.

“It makes sense,” said Katina Poulin, a consultant with U.S. Cellular in Auburn. “People aren’t telling us that they are buying them because of him. But BlackBerry sales are constantly increasing.”

Down the street at the AT&T showroom, the story was the same: More folks are buying the Canadian-made phones.

It figures. For several months, President-elect Barack Obama has been photographed with his BlackBerry in his hand or tucked on his hip.

The talk increased after he won the election and he admitted that his Secret Service detail had begun asking him to give it up, lest someone intercept his communications or try using the phone to triangulate his location.

Obama has yet to decide whether he’ll keep it after he takes his oath of office. He told The New York Times last week that it would be a struggle.

“I’m still clinging to my BlackBerry,” he told the paper and CNBC. “They’re going to pry it out of my hands.”

Such devotion is the stuff of corporate dreams.

Obama’s endorsement would be worth $25 million to $50 million if he were going to pitch the product, The New York Times wrote.

The newspaper even renamed the gadget: “The BarackBerry.”

For folks who are unfamiliar with the BlackBerry, it’s part cell phone and part pocket computer.

Like the iPhone, it can be used to talk, browse the Internet, keep a schedule or compose and send e-mails. Prices vary depending on the carrier.

“They do everything that people need,” said Poulin, the phone seller for U.S. Cellular.

They are not yet ubiquitous.

Even at Auburn’s AT&T store, the BlackBerry’s strong sales are outpaced by less expensive and less versatile cell phones and Apple’s iPhone, which has an exclusive deal with AT&T.

Chris Cole, the assistant manager of AT&T’s Center Street store, said he has heard little talk about Obama’s attachment to his phone.

Yet, some customers are aware, even to the point of criticism. At least one buyer ridiculed Obama’s outdated BlackBerry, suggesting a lack of tech credibility on the president-to-be’s part.

“It’s an 8700 series,” Cole said of Obama’s phone. That would make it three or four years old, several decades in nerd years.

“I’ve got two of those at home in a drawer,” Cole said.