January 11, 2012
By Sascha Segan
LAS VEGAS ? Sprint is making a big jump over to LTE.
The company won't be introducing any more WiMAX smartphones, Sprint's VP of product realization David Owens said today, preferring instead to bulk up its upcoming LTE lineup. And those LTE phones will be Android phones, at least for now, as Owens had some tough things to say about Microsoft's Windows Phone OS.
Sprint launched its first two LTE smartphones here at CES, the flashy
Samsung Galaxy Nexus (we have a full review of the Verizon Wireless model) and the LG Viper, which we did a hands-on with earlier at the show.
With those two in the pipeline and more phones potentially coming "by midyear" when Sprint launches LTE, the company is pretty much done with launching WiMAX smartphones, Owens said.
"We've just gone through an extensive set of launches," which will keep Sprint's product line fresh for a while, Owens said.
"April, May, June, July, August, those will be very aggressive times for us," Owens said.
And he warned that Sprint will probably over-deliver on its LTE buildout promises. While Sprint has only promised four LTE cities by the middle of the year, "By the second half of the year" means "between now and midyear," Owens said. "Other markets may launch in 2012," too.
Sprint: We're Bullish On LTE, Not Windows Phone | News & Opinion | PCMag.com