July 13, 2010
Sprint HTC EVO 4G Shortages Not Good for WiMAX Growth
By
Marisa Torrieri
TMCnet Editor
Many believe the biggest impact of Sprint’s HTC (
News -
Alert) EVO 4G phone shortage is solely being felt by consumers and Sprint. But another victim of HTC’s inability to deliver component parts could end up being WiMAX (
News -
Alert) technology itself, industry experts observe.
Because HTC isn’t getting enough of the large touch displays from Samsung (
News -
Alert) that both the Sprint EVO 4G phone and the Droid Incredible devices require, Sprint’s business could take a beating,
InformationWeek observes.
“The early move to 4G has benefited Sprint (
News -
Alert) from a marketing perspective, but it hasn’t really proven out in a major way in subscriber growth,” Dan Hays, who works for consulting firm PRTM, told news media.
Another observation from IW reporter Eric Zeman (
News -
Alert): Sprint pumped up consumers by marketing its 4G services heavily via television commercials since early this year. Despite the expansion of its WiMAX network to 43 markets, the company hasn’t followed through.
So will WiMAX take off? We’ll let you know what analysts think soon. Stay tuned.
Marisa Torrieri is a TMCnet Web editor, covering IP hardware and mobility, including IP phones, smartphones, fixed-mobile convergence and satellite technology. She also compiles and regularly contributes to TMCnet's gadgets and satellite e-Newsletters. To read more of Marisa's articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Marisa Torrieri