Sprint’s announcement last Friday that it would begin offering LTE-capable handsets next year as a first step toward migrating to the 4G standard signaled the beginning of the end of WiMAX in the U.S. Starting out as an underdog against a global LTE commitment, Sprint’s rollout of the first 4G network was marked by numerous delays and false starts (such as XOHM) during a time when the carrier was struggling financially. After initially first touting the superiority of WiMAX, Sprint soon shifted to the practical argument that it was supporting the technology because it was available and LTE was not.
Sprint’s time-to-market advantage, however, varied by municipality. In New York City, for example, its lead was particularly short. The Big Apple was one of the last cities in which Sprint rolled out WiMAX, but it was one of the first cities in which Verizon rolled out LTE, resulting in a head start of only a few months.
As noted in today’s press release, based on NPD Mobile Phone Track data, Sprint’s WiMAX efforts were not in vain. The carrier’s early adoption of 4G resulted in relatively high adoption of smartphones that delivered what had been the fastest wireless broadband speeds available. Indeed, Sprint was the only carrier for which 4G handset purchases accounted for the majority of unit sales. That’s particularly impressive given the relatively easier evolutionary path to 4G afforded by T-Mobile’s and AT&T’s HSPA+ networks.
Sprint notes that it will continue to offer WiMAX handsets throughout next year, which likely ensures that its WiMAX network will remain in operation for some time to come. Eventually, though, the company will be able to tap into the greater global scale afforded by LTE, scale that have proven compelling to its two larger domestic competitors.
Tags: 4G, AT&T, HSPA+, LTE, smartphone, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, WiMAX, Wireless
Consumer Technology, Wireless | Ross Rubin, Executive Director, NPD Connected Intelligence | 
October 12, 2011 1:09 pm | 
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Smartphones are an addiction for easily bored people. They tell you sports scores, weather, news, and let you play games — all while you’re waiting that interminable 15 minutes in a restaurant before you get your meal. The thing smartphones can’t do, I’m quickly learning, is download a lot of applications over a 3G network. Read more »
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Tags: Ford Motor Company, GPS, HTC, MirrorLink, Motorola, navigation, Nokia, smartphone
Connected Intelligence, Consumer Technology, Wireless | Eddie Hold, Vice President, NPD Connected Intelligence | September 27, 2011 4:39 pm | Comments (0)
In thinking about how Android has turned the U.S. smartphone market on its head over the past eighteen months, the musical anthem that most readily comes to mind is James Brown’s “This is a Man’s World.” This really is an Android world . . . an Android-Android-Android world . . . at least from a smartphone OS penetration perspective. At least half of all smartphone purchases in the past three quarters have been Android-based. Read more »
Tags: Android, Connected Intelligence, Google, Microsoft, smartphone, WP7
Connected Intelligence, Consumer Technology, Wireless | Linda Barrabee, Research Director, NPD Connected Intelligence | September 22, 2011 10:28 am | Comments (0)
Last week, my colleague Steve Baker wrote about the poor decision on Cisco’s part in shuttering Flip and the difficulties faced in appeasing Wall Street in the volatile tech market. Today the competition marches ahead without Flip in the mix, and nearly one quarter of the camcorder market is there for the taking.
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