With WiMax, Sprint is steering away from the typical U.S. practice of carriers selling devices themselves. Gear for its WiMax network will be sold by manufacturers in retail stores. Given that difference and Sprint's huge bet on WiMax, that carrier might be able to achieve faster approvals, said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Jupitermedia. It's an attractive idea, given that products today often take two to six months to reach the market, he said. But Gartenberg is skeptical about the broader implications.
"The real question is, longer term, will carriers cede control?" Gartenberg said. "I think the answer is no."
Those who want to use Sprint's new WiMax network should start to see some Sprint-approved laptops in October, according to Kripalani. The network is scheduled to launch first in Baltimore, then in Washington, D.C., and Chicago by the end of this year. In 2009, it will launch in Philadelphia, Boston, Providence, Rhode Island, and Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas. A deal that will merge Sprint's WiMax business into a joint venture with Clearwire is expected to be approved by the end of this year. Clearwire has said it expects to launch mobile WiMax in Atlanta, Las Vegas, Portland, Oregon, and Grand Rapids, Michigan, by year's end.