While the 3G wireless price wars are still red-hot, only a few companies seem poised for the next pricing and performance battleground: 4G. Surprisingly, Sprint is one of those carriers and the company is looking to make a preemptive strike by selling 4G phones and services soon. This does leave a few questions, however, some of which are harder to answer than others.
The Big Question: When?
There are two different timetables floating around the Internet, some simply saying that Sprint’s 4G service will be available by the end of 2010 while the other rumor suggests that Sprint will start offering 4G services sometime in the second quarter. While many might hope for a second quarter launch, nobody wants to see Sprint launch a service before they are ready from a technical standpoint. The results could be nothing short of calamitous, but there honestly seems little chance of Sprint launching something half-baked given the company’s track record.
What makes a sooner-rather-than-later release seem more likely is that Sprint and Clearwire opted to go the WiMAX route for their 4G technology. AT&T and Verizon went with an updated version of LTE, which may ultimately prove to be superior from a technical standpoint, but industry analysts suggest that the amount of time that it takes to deploy an LTE upgrade is far greater than the time it takes to deploy a new WiMAX network. Will being first be more important than offering a few Kbps more speed? Ask original iPhone owners, some of which are just now getting out of their initial contract and upgrading to new phones, but the answer is probably yes.
On the subject of answers, the crystal ball is certainly cloudy but a second quarter launch would seem possible. The technology is here, the next generation of mobile devices are right around the corner, and the competition might be left in the rearview mirror, at least for a few months. The best evidence of the readiness might be the fact that Sprint has recently deployed WiMAX in 5 major markets, while ultra-fast 4G LTE services are still being tested in very select areas.
Question Number Two: What (Phones/Devices)?
CES 2010 showed a great number of portable devices that have the power to fully utilize today’s 3G technology. While older silicon lacked the computational horsepower to keep applications moving and data flowing at full tilt, that is not going to be a problem for much longer. A slew of new handsets using Android are upon us and Windows Phone 7 series is due to launch by the end of the year. Palm and other mobile phone designers may also have a few interesting updates based on the latest silicon, so there is a good chance that products will be on the market and ready to take advantage of WiMAX by the time that Sprint is ready to open 4G services nationwide.
The Eternal Question: Why?
Out of all the questions, this is perhaps the easiest to answer. Sprint has never really achieved the market penetration and mindshare of rivals such as Verizon and AT&T. While AT&T and Sprint were not as flashy as T-Mobile and Verizon only a few years ago, AT&T changed their position by partnering with Apple. Millions of iPhones later, AT&T is on the map and on everyone’s tongue. Sprint has been picking up as many high caliber mobile phones and smartphones as they can, especially those that they can get for an exclusive period such as the Palm Pre and Pixi. With a reasonable assortment of high quality phones available, Sprint still needs something to give their name that extra push into the public’s eye.
That very thing may be 4G, and the competition’s lack of it. If Sprint can be the first or even the second carrier to offer nation-wide 4G services, they will be in an incredible position from a bragging-rights perspective. 4G services are due to be incredibly fast, and the devices that can make good use of that speed should be here by the time that Sprint is ready. If Sprint can craft a clever marketing campaign, they might put themselves in a position to sign a lot of new contracts and sell a lot of mobile phones and devices. A win for Sprint could be a win for consumers too, as it could drive prices of 3G services down and spur 4G development as competitors rush to catch up.
