Sprint's upcoming HTC Supersonic for Clearwire is increasingly getting attention, and now it turns out Verizon Wireless plans to release LTE capable phones in mid-2011.
Wall Street Journal reports that Verizon Wireless is planning to release the first LTE capable phones in mid-2011. These LTE phones will connect to the carrier's existing network technology as well as the new LTE network courtesy of dual chipsets. Anthony Melone, Chief Technology Officer at Verizon Wireless, told WSJ that it's unlikely to see LTE phones with a single, integrated chip initially.
The Android Mobile OS blog recently posted a short video of Sprint's upcoming HTC Supersonic, a smartphone that'll connect to Clearwire's new Mobile WiMAX network. Boasting a 4.3-inch display, 1GHz Snapdragon processor and Android 2.1 with HTC Sense, the HTC Supersonic is expected to give smartphone fans a glimpse into the mobile future.
Verizon Wireless plans to start competing with Clearwire already in late 2010 though, as the carrier should then start offering LTE capable equipment such as PCMCIA cards and USB modems. It's worth noting that Google is one of the companies behind Clearwire, meaning that we could see groundbreaking services being rolled out on Clearwire that traditional carriers may not take up instantly.
According to Wall Street Journal, it seems like both Verizon and AT&T are currently more worried about how to charge LTE users than how to offer something unique (beyond improved network reliability) that'll make users actually take the next step up. Currently, we think Google and Clearwire have a great opportunity to attract the crowds that way. And we assume Google would then promote and sell the goods through their new Android Store.
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Archive