Well, here's some interesting and somewhat unexpected news - in yesterday's Q1 earnings call Clear announced that they would be launching two 3G/4G smartphones by the end of this year. Clear, whose majority shareholder is Sprint, stated that "The Company also expects to launch two WiMAX smartphones by the end of 2010. From Samsung, an Android-based 3G/4G/WiFi device optimized for heavy video and video communications use, and a 3G/4G/WiFi enabled phone from HTC."
Also mentioned was that the devices would be specifically Clear branded (as opposed to Sprint) and that the HTC device was not going to be the HTC EVO 4G. Engadget is speculating that this could mean the HTC phone will be the company's first Windows Phone 7 device and that the reason for the "hush hush" is that HTC has yet to announce their plans for WP7. By the looks of things, Sprint (via Clear) is doing all they can to corner the 4G market while the rest of the carriers are working toward LTE.
You probably remember Dan Hesse's affirmation that going the WiMAX route was strictly to be the first to have 4G, and the way things are looking now I'd say the decision was a good one. What do you think?
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