Sprint and Clearwire are apparently set to do the almost unthinkable: Get WiMax off the ground. Fortune is reporting that Sprint and Clearwire are expected to announce as early as tomorrow the formation of a massive WiMax joint venture with Time Warner and Comcast. Intel and Google are rumoured to be throwing money at the new WiMax party (more?). If you’ll notice, this basically rolls up most of the past WiMax rumours into one convenient ball of fun—indicating they were spot on, or that this is just repackaged BS, so don’t throw away the salt lick just yet. Godspeed, WiMax. [Fortune]
The latest laptop to feature built-in WiMax comes from Acer in the form of an updated Aspire 5920. According to InfoWorld, plans are to sell it through “Sprint Nextel and other companies” along with WiMax service in a manner similar to mobile phone service packages. Unfortunately, no information has been made available about the laptop itself or how much all of this will cost. Acer hopes to deliver the laptop by the end of the year. [InfoWorld]
Dear Sprint and Intel, I’m sorry to hear about your recent WiMax delays and struggles, I really am. The Xohm service was originally scheduled to launch this month, but all you’ve given us are a few prototypes and half-baked demos in controlled environments—the public has yet to see the technology truly in action. WiMax in general and Xohm in particular have the potential for greatness, but you guys seem to have lost your way. Here are all the signs that WiMax may be washed up:
Sprint has delayed the launch of its commercial Xohm WiMax service to sometime “later in the year.” Initially due to launch in Chicago, Baltimore and D.C. this month, it looks like it’s taking longer than they thought to work the kinks out. Does this spell bad news for WiMax as a whole, indicating that it’s got limitations that’ll keep it from meeting expectations, or is this just them making sure everything is perfect before stealing out hearts with awesome 4G wireless? Time will tell. [Engadget]
Sprint’s got a bunch of devices huddled in a booth running off its Xohm WiMax network: some Nokia N810 tablets and a smattering of notebooks from different makers (like a Windows XP Asus Eee PC, but it was acting a bit wonky, so I had to move on to a more generic laptop). Basically, the internet experience is just like cable, except wireless—the buildout is aimed at 2-4Mbps downspeed bandwidth and about 1.5-2 up, which is exactly what I was pulling here, according to a stealthy speedtest.net check.
Straight from CTIA 2008, Everex has unveiled their new Cloudbook Max featuring built-in support for Sprint’s XOHM WiMAX network. Users can also expect a 8.9″ WVGA (1024 x 600) display, a 1.6GHz VIA C7-M ULV processor with the VIA VX800 digital media IGP chipset, up to 2GB DDR2 SDRAM, a 80GB hard disk drive, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth, an integrated GPS receiver, dual built-in 2-megapixel webcams, an S-Video port, audio in/out and the Microsoft Vista OS. No pricing info has been announced, but you can expect it to hit store shelves within a year. Press release after the break.
Nokia took the shroud off its WiMAX-capable N810 Tablet today, which promises 4g mobile broadband speeds for the handheld internet tablet. The updated N810 will use Sprint’s Xohm service, and adds a new mobile dimension to the device, which was previously Wi-Fi only.
As expected, Sprint has announced their allegedly-WiMAX Xohm service, claiming that “the internet is on the verge of another revolution.” They want to “empower PMPs, video cameras, MP3s and more with internet access.” We just want cheap zoomtastic Internet action everywhere. [Xohm]
Engadget got a poster and a tipster claiming that Sprint could unveil their WiMax service tomorrow, with deployment by the end of 2007. The service will be called XOHM and it will allow you to use devices like the future 4G Nokia N800 in “selected cities.” [Engadget]
