Update from Sprint Developer’s Conference

If you were hoping to hear more news about exciting new devices for WiMAX
networks in the U.S., the
Sprint Open Developers Conference was a bit of a letdown Tuesday. While hints of
future devices were dropped again — there will be a WiMAX phone in 2010, maybe
– firm details, the kind you can plan purchases around, were nowhere in sight.
And judging from the comments from one Sprint exec, you can stick a fork in the
Mobile Internet Device idea, at least until device manufacturers decide to start
charging a lot less for MIDs like the Samsung Mondi.

Sorry I don’t have the exec’s name — I came in late to the keynote panel — but
someone clearly from Sprint was asked about MIDs, and the reply wasn’t
encouraging. Though the Mondi is available from Clearwire in its current
markets, its high price — $449.99, not including any rate plan — was noted by
the Sprint exec as something that keeps wallets in pockets.

"With MIDs, when you take the price and then add rate plans, customers start to
get a little uncomfortable," said the Sprint exec on stage. "It’s just not a
scalable model to get a lot of traction." A few remarks later, the same exec
basically said that if device manufacturers want to get MIDs on WiMAX networks,
they may have to eat part of the costs to seed interest. "We [service providers]
aren’t going to accept all the risk," the Sprint exec said.

Zang! Tough words, but we pretty much agree with Sprint on the whole MID thing
– in our most recent CLEARWIRE NTK report for October 2009, we called the Mondi "an overly expensive,
somewhat confusing form-factor machine that wasn’t big enough to do ‘real’
laptop work, and didn’t contain a cellular link to make voice calls an easy
proposition." We also said the $450 list price was way too high for such an
esoteric device, especially compared to the $199 list price for the Apple iPhone
3GS. But that also means that Sprint isn’t going to stick its neck out on
unproven devices; remember, CEO Dan Hesse
dissed
Android just one short year ago. Unfortunately for WiMAX users, that means
more dongles and laptops.

There was more disappointment for developers hoping to hear more about the cool
things WiMAX might enable them to do — network APIs for attributes like
location-based services and QoS hooks are apparently still on the drawing board,
answers that prompted one twitterer in the
audience to note that Top Q&A response at dev conference is "its on the
roadmap." While we are bullish on things like the mobile
broadband routers (which we call
Pocketspots)
that Sprint has already launched, cool toys that exploit WiMAX’s attributes are
things we apparently won’t see until much later in 2010.

Or, as we said in our report: "Without a doubt, the coolest thing about WiMAX
is its ability to provide a true broadband connection with cellular mobility.
One of Clearwire’s biggest problems, however, is a lack of a compelling reason
to take advantage of that mobile connection — and the dearth of devices that
would allow you to even try."

Unfortunately, nothing we heard Tuesday changed our mind. The wait continues.
 

PAUL KAPUSTKA is the editor and founder of SIDECUT REPORTS, which recently
released its "Clearwire NTK" research report (which stands for Clearwire — Need
To Know), priced at just $4.95. You can order the report directly by following
this
link.