At the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Sprint representative David Owens announced that the company would no longer be releasing WiMAX phones and instead will be focusing its attention on LTE.

Sprint was previously the only US carrier to place its full support behind WiMAX, with its main competitors supporting LTE from an early date. With the increasing likelihood of LTE becoming the 4G standard instead of WiMAX, the company sees little point in continuing to be the lone voice supporting the wireless technology.

The decision to support LTE instead of WiMAX means that Sprint is now able to release LTE enabled phones such as the Galaxy Nexus to place the company in a better position to compete against Verizon and others.

So does Sprint’s decision mark the end of WiMAX on smartphones? The United States is one of the few countries where 4G is already operational, and the majority of 4G networks in the country are LTE. Other countries, such as the United Kingdom, are currently conducting LTE trials with plans to implement the technology in the next couple of years.

Likewise, the world’s most popular phone, the iPhone, has yet to adopt 4G due to its experimental status. If 4G is going to make an appearance on the iPhone 5, which will be launched later in 2012, it is likely that Apple will choose the more established LTE technology and will not opt for a WiMAX version.

Even though LTE now has the upper hand, Sprint was the first company to launch a 4G smartphone with the HTC EVO 4G back in 2010. Since then, a number of higher profile LTE devices have scuppered Sprint’s ambitions of nationwide WiMAX adoption.

When the world was first introduced to the blistering speeds of 4G data connections there was a lot of debate about which technology would establish itself as the industry standard. It now seems clear that with all US carriers placing their support behind LTE, and 4G development projects in other countries favoring LTE, WiMAX is destined to be swept to the side in the smartphone industry.

This guest post was written by Simon Drew of Best Mobile Contracts, the UK’s number one mobile phone comparison website.

Want a 4G tablet? If you want built-in 4G, you’ll have to go Android. (The iPad can get 4G only with a MiFi device.) There are about half a dozen 4G Android tablets in various sizes and price points available from the four major carriers. Most of these tablets have the latest Android 3.0 (aka Honeycomb) operating system.

AT&T sells two 4G tablets: the Acer Iconic Tab A501 ($330 with 2 year contract) and the HTC Jetstream ($700 with 2 year contract). Both have 10.1-inch, 1280 by 800 screens, dual-core processors, front-facing cameras for video chat and can accept memory cards up to 32 GB. There are a few differences between the two tablets, but whether they’re worth the $370 price difference is up for debate. While both tablets have Android’s Honeycomb software, the Acer Tab has version 3.0, and the Jetstream has the slightly upgraded version 3.1. The HTC Jetstream has the most recent Bluetooth standard (3.0), Wi-Fi, an 8-megapixel camera and a 32 GB drive. The Acer Iconic Tab has Bluetooth 2.1, a 5-megapixel camera, a 16 GB hard drive and no Wi-Fi.

There are also two 4G tablets available from Verizon. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 comes in two hard drive sizes: 16 GB ($530 with 2 year contract) and 32 GB ($630 with 2 year contract). The Motorola Xoom ($500 with 2-year contract) has a 10.1-inch screen, but a 7-inch model is expected to hit store shelves soon. The 10.1-inch Xoom can accept memory cards up to 64 GB; the Galaxy Tab does not
accept memory cards. All of these tablets have front-facing cameras and Android 3.1. The Xoom has a 5-megapixel camera that can capture 720p video; the Galaxy Tab has a 3-megapixel camera.

T-Mobile has just one 4G tablet available, the 32 GB LG G-Slate ($400 with 2-year contract), though two more models, the Galaxy Tab and the SpringBoard, are due out soon. The G-Slate has an 8.9-inch screen, a front-facing camera and a 5-megapixel camera that can capture 3D images and 1080p HD video. Video playback is limited to 720p.

Compared to the other 4G tablets, Sprint’s offering is rather modest. While the other three carriers all offer at least one 10.1-inch tablet, Sprint only offers a 7-inch tablet, the HTC Evo View ($400 with 2 year contract). It’s also has an older Android OS: version 2.3. The View has a front facing camera for video chats and a 5-megapixel camera for taking photos and video – its memory slot can accept cards up to 32 GB. One feature that sets it apart is HTC’s Scribe Technology, which, when used with a compatible pen accessory, enables you to take handwritten notes on the tablet and upload them to Evernote software. Weighing less than a pound, the HTC Evo View is the lightest of this bunch.

There has been quite a bit of news in the last week concerning the 4G revolution. I reported in a past article to expect some news from Sprint. Then just last week, Sprint says it will not be embedding or supporting WiMax in their devices in 2012, or Clear for that matter.

Now I wouldn’t read into that too much. What I got from that press was this: They are not supporting WiMax any longer–LTE is another entity. I also reported that Clear would be making some big news. So, right after Sprint came out in favor of LTE, Clear shares some of the same spotlight with their new LTE path.

I also read some press about Sprint devices being embedded with both TD-LTE and FD LTE. To me, that says Sprint and Clear are moving away from WiMax. They are certainly not washing their hands of Clear. If Sprint has learned anything, they know the value of that spectrum and the future of true 4G speed is in that massive 2.5 GHZ pipe. They also know the value of being able to utilize that network to offload data and keep their network flowing. In fact, Sprint learned that from watching what happened to AT&T, and how their network was not ready for prime time. As a result AT&T took a nose dive from the introduction of the iPhone and all that data flow crashing, or crushing their legacy voice gear.

Sprint is ready to go forward, and they’re saying get on the LTE train, or get left behind. I also wrote an article last year about how Clear should have made this decision back then. But because of the Sprint ties, and an in-place echo space that needed no disruption, they waited, and that cost them an LTE run-away that’s put them in a last place position. There are many reasons for this, and they’re all corporate. There are also many other investors and let’s just say, they did not want to upset the apple cart.

If Sprint really wants to make some 4G news, try offering a 4G-only plan on WiMax-embedded devices for $45 a month. Here’s my recommendation for Sprint: You’re paying Clear $10.00. At $45 a month, that makes $35 profit, and you didn’t even have to build the network. You might just get the attention of investors, and you and Clear will be off and running with the fastest LTE available.

Then, after the news of Sprint treating Clear like a red headed step child with no more WiMax, Clear is in talks with PCS, which is Sprint, and Verizon. This brings us back to all that spectrum. There are so many ways Clear can contribute in this space, by providing an off-load port for all the telecoms, or being the backhaul to devices. And it’s not even dependent on Clear being built all the way out.

This is how I see the situation morphing into an awesome path. If Sprint starts to build out their LTE, while Clear continues to get their truck roll on, they would be building at twice the speed. Now, if these devices are on either a TD or FD LTE network, this is some common ground. At some point their paths will meet, and bam, they have not only caught up but have passed the competition, as this is the realm of true 4G. And if the goal was to build out advanced LTE, the fat lady will have sung.

It looks to me like all the carriers are going to find a way to access the Clear spectrum. Clear may well become an integral part of all things 4G, on all devices before this is over.

Sprint Nextel Co. announced Friday that it will cease selling devices compatible with Clearwire’s network at the end of next year. Clearwire is a wholesale provider of WiMAX 4G wireless service and is majority owned by Sprint, who is also currently their biggest customer. This revelation came on the heels of Sprint’s decision to move into LTE territory, WiMAX’s biggest 4G competitor.

Sprint was the earliest of the major wireless carriers to offer 4G service. Back in September of 2008. their decision to opt for WiMAX technology gave them a competitive edge over their rivals. Recently, however, LTE, the next generation standard of choice for big guns Verizon, AT&T, and T Mobile, has been enjoying rapid gains and is set to overtake WiMAX in the near future. Sprint has thus elected to cut its losses and throw in with the Long Term Evolution Club.

This seems like the kind of thing that would leave Clearwire in the lurch, a hypothesis supported by the company’s dipping stock value. The Clearwire brass don’t seem unduly perturbed, however. “I don’t think anything fundamentally changed for us after today,” Clearwire CEO Erik Prusch said. “Sprint is still dependent on us for their network.”

Clearwire’s relative nonchalance may have something to do with LTE plans of their own. The spectrum operator is looking for funding to convert their vast holdings to support LTE, a task made easier with rival LightSquared tied up in Washington over GPS signal interference allegations.

Sprint, for their part, has begun constructing a network of their own. Their holdings are expected to exceed that of Clearwire by the end of 2013.

Today, Tim Cook, Apple’s new CEO, finally made the long-awaited announcement about the new iPhone. Apple fans and iPhone addicts were expecting the iPhone 5 with a new design, 4G technology and great technical improvements. However, much to our disappointment, the iPhone 4S, introduced by Phil Schiller, Senior Vice President of worldwide product marketing at Apple, only features the latter.

The new iPhone 4 S features the new A5 chip, a dual core processor & graphics allowing for two times faster CPU and seven times faster graphics.  Apple’s smartphone now has an 8 Mega pixel camera (3264 x 2448 pixels) and a generally improved lens and color caption system, that enables HD videos and great picture quality on the same levels as commercial point and shoot cameras.
One of the main issues that the iPhone 4S had to overcome was the battery life and how those new capabilities would affect it. Phil Schiller bragged about the “fantastic battery life”: eight hours of 3G talk time, 6 hours in 3 G browsing, 8 hours when using WiFi, ten hours of video and 40 hours of music.

In terms of connectivity, the iPhone-4 S now supports both GSM and CDMA networks (the iPhone 4 only supported either one at a time). 4G was never mentioned, neither LTE nor WiMAX considered advanced enough for Apple to implement in their brainchild.

Also presented was “Siri”, the new voice recognition system that allows you to set alarms, check the weather and more by simply talking to your phone in an almost conversational way. Asking “How do I get home?” would prompt the GPS system to guide you home and when inquiring about who Siri is, the answer comes out as “I am a humble personal assistant.”

At the end of the technical presentation of the new iPhone 4-S, commercial information was also delivered. The iPhone 4S will be available in black and white versions with prices depending on the internal memory — 16GB: $199, 32GB for $299, 64GB for $399, while distribution will depend on carrier agreements with Apple. Verizon, AT&T and Sprint will offer the new iPhone 4s on the US market.

This ended the presentation and left all iPhone enthusiasts with more expectations about the arrival of the iPhone 5, supporting 4G.

Dish Network has expressed an interest in either partnering with a wireless carrier like Sprint or Clearwire or buying them outright, Forbes reported. Dish purchased satellite operators Terrestar and DBSD North America, saving them from bankruptcy earlier this year, and is now looking to make use of the wireless spectrum acquired as a result.

“We’ll look at partnerships, acquisitions, all of the above,” said Dish CEO Joseph Clayton, according to Bloomberg.

Upon this announcement, Sprint’s stocks jumped, as a deal like this is predicted to significantly aid in correcting Sprint’s and Clearwire’s current 4G woes. Concerns that such a merger would result in a legal deadlock after the AT&T/T-Mobile model have been assuaged – AT&T has been accused of decreasing competition while Dish would serve to provide a new player to the market. AT&T is currently fending off multiple anti-trust suits from the Department of Justice, Sprint Co., and regional carrier Cellular South.

A deal like this would help Clearwire get the $150-$300 million in funding it so badly needs to implement spectrum maintenance as well as the additional $600 million required to launch its LTE network. Furthermore, Clearwire could afford to abandon talks with wireless carriers to sell its excess spectrum – holdings that are considered the WiMAX operator’s most valuable asset. Clearwire has been negotiating to this end with the likes of Verizon, AT&T, and Metro PCS, the 1st, 2nd, and 6th largest national carriers, respectively.

There are several missing pieces,” Clayton said. “Wireless infrastructure, additional technology capabilities and even distribution are pieces that we’re still working on. Stay tuned.”

With their vast spectrum holdings, Clear will become the main player where 4G is concerned. Bandwidth consumption is exploding and the need for speed is the here and now. I don’t think all the spectrum from all of the carriers combined would total what Clear has to offer.

Clear is talking to all the major carriers about providing capacity to operate their networks as well. I have often said how important Clear is to this space. They started this wireless data as a portable service, and have moved on to give it wings. Their policy has always been take all you want, no caps, and that is what 4G is really about.

To stay competitive, Clear finally made the move to go with LTE. I think they should have made the news about six months earlier, as this would have made their case for needed funding much easier. So what we are calling the 4G of today is not the 4G of tomorrow. And tomorrow’s 4G is fast, and unlimited.

I wrote articles back in 2008 about how tough it was going to be for Clear to compete with the recurring costs of the many licenses they lease. There is a trade off here: it costs much more to build out 2.5 GHz, than it does 700 MHz. However where I see this going: more towers, closer together, with 140 MHz per market, means a more robust network, and that is where the speed demon Clear will excel. If Clear can get the funding they are seeking to build out their LTE side, they will be hitting the 100Mbps threshold long before any other carrier can. And that is true 4G.

This Sprint-Clear relationship is complicated, but I don’t see Sprint cutting loose their ties with Clear. Sprint had to distance themselves from Clear so that Clear’s problems didn’t become Sprint’s as well. They are married through devices, and that will not be changing any time soon.

Consumers have more power today thanks to Clear, and tomorrow only gets better. However there is this little 600 million dollar thing that has put the brakes on it for now. I am certain that they will get their funding. Clear is the only true 4G carrier, not just in terms of speed but the entire concept of what 4G is meant to be: open, unlimited, no borders, fast, and mobile.

Last year Clear abandoned the development of their mobile device as they were in a cost cutting mode. Now, they are talking to China, who is also TD Wimax at 2.5GHz, about building a smart phone for their network. This creates an easy path for Clear to obtain a device for their needs, with just some software tweaks. This is an important area for Clear and is what they need to re-establish themselves as a major 4G competitor and to help tear down the walled garden model of minute monopolies. This is the making of some very good news for the Clear brand and could get the company more than enough funding to build out their 4G network. The major carriers are going to be in a transition for a long time with 3G, slowly moving to 4G. Clear is only 4G, no transition needed. However a good mobile device is needed to help spank some sense into Clear’s competition. This is where 4G starts to really gain some traction, as an all you need technology. I cannot re iterate how important Clear is to us moving forward and firmly establishing what 4G is supposed to be. Clear’s growing pains may well be behind them as this device becomes a reality.

This China collaboration is some huge news for Clear, since they share the same 2.5GHz band and WiMax. In addition, the device they are building is a smart device. Notice I use the term “smart device,” because 4G is not in the same family as the cell phones we know. Clear’s collaboration with China will produce a dual mode device with TD WiMax, and TD LTE. The closer this device gets to market, the closer we all come to true 4G. Then, Clear can finish their TD LTE network and true 4G will be born. Even if Clear’s network only works at 1/3 the speed advertised, 33 Mbps is still giddy up.

Investors should not be scared to take a real hard look at this. It looks very promising to me, that a new smart device will make all the difference in the world and will serve to chum the investor waters.

The recent announcement that confirmed Sprint Nextel’s acquisition of the rights to the iPhone 5 come October led to a great deal of excitement among Sprint customers. Prior to this innovation, the wildly popular Smartphone from Apple was reserved for LTE powerhouses AT&T and Verizon. A Sprint iPhone is indicative of a WiMAX iPhone in the near future.

Adding to the fervor, the internet is now abuzz with the rumor that there will be a WiMAX iPad available to Sprint customers as well. The ultra-slim device, which dominates the tablet market, is said to be available to consumers in time for the holiday season. If the rumors are true, the iPad will be only the 2nd 4G tablet in Sprint’s lineup which currently consists of the HTC Evo View 4G, certainly not one of the bigger players in the tablet industry.

The advent of Apple devices is a very good omen for Sprint, who has taken its share of hits over the last few months. It is currently embroiled in a prolonged legal dispute with AT&T over their desired $39 billion purchase of T-Mobile, which Sprint claims will destroy their market share. Clearwire, the company that produces WiMAX 4G technology and in which Sprint is a majority shareholder, has been limping along recently and proven a drain on Sprint’s resources.
Sprint thus hopes that the Apple devices, considered the cutting edge in consumer technology, will add a sleek and hip veneer to their image.

Sprint recently scrapped plans to jointly develop a 4G-enabled tablet with Research in Motion, the maker of Blackberry and the Blackberry Playbook Tablet. This revelation came as a blow to both RIM and Sprint, who were hoping to establish more of a presence in the burgeoning tablet industry. A WiMAX iPad would certainly bridge that gap for Sprint.

Anyone with half an eye to the wireless mobile industry is aware of the lawsuit filed in the DOJ against AT&T last month. But in case you have been asleep, the facts are as follows: Mobile giant AT&T made a bid last Spring to purchase the nation’s 4th-largest wireless service provider, T Mobile, for a whopping $39 billion. This ambitious move greatly disturbed competitor Sprint Nextel (whose own bid fell short of AT&T’s offer), as the merger would relegate the WiMAX operator to a distant 3rd place in the national mobile market as well as, as Sprint credibly claimed, would kill their business. Thus, Sprint hastily filed a lawsuit with the Department of Justice which stated that the acquisition was in direct violation of the Clayton Anti-trust Act. The DOJ followed that up in August with a suit of their own. Experts give the deal a 25% chance of going through.

Now AT&T has made the dubious claim that a merger would actually serve to increase competition in the global mobile market. As informationweek.com reported, AT&T recently released a statement which included the following claim: “Rather than substantially reducing competition, the combined firm will usher in more intense competition to an already vibrantly competitive market.”

I smell a rat here. More intense competition for who exactly? Certainly not AT&T. Furthermore, it is asking a lot of the DOJ to believe that AT&T is actively seeking increased competition. If the Justice Department is to be swayed, it won’t be with this argument. The full statement from AT&T can be found on FierceWireless.

As the Sprint vs. AT&T drama heightens, the nation’s 3rd largest wireless services provider may be adding insult to the injury of yet another law suit filed against AT&T with the DOJ this week. The Wall Street Journal has reported that service for the much-anticipated iPhone 5 will be provided by Sprint, who will also get the rights to the iPhone 4.

Sprint, the largest carrier of the WiMAX 4G network, has been mounting a protracted battle against AT&T since the mobile industry giant announced their plans for a takeover bid of T Mobile for a reported $39 billion. Sprint has made the claim that such a move would cripple their business and relegate them to a distant third place in the US cell phone market. Sprint also maintains that the merger is in direct violation of the Clayton antitrust act.

AT&T recently lost their 5-year monopoly of iPhone service when Verizon (currently the largest network in the US) was allowed to release their own CDMA iPhone 4. Come October, it appears a 3rd carrier will be added to the mix. Apple hopes that this move will help it earn back the market share it has lost to Google’s increasingly popular Android Operating System, currently the leading operator.

“Android has benefited greatly from being available in multiple devices across all carriers,” said Alex Spektor, a wireless expert at Strategy Analytics. “Broader iOS availability certainly could be beneficial for iPhone volumes, as higher shelf-share could translate into more visibility with consumers.”

The new iPhone will reportedly sport a larger screen and slimmer design than its predecessor.