In spite of the failed partnership with Clearwire and their current financial strain, Sprint expects to launch Xohm as planned. We could be experiencing a wireless broadband network from Sprint in several major cities, such as Chicago and Washington DC, as early as spring of this year.

According to the LA Times, Sprint’s Chief Executive Dan Hesse is convinced that WiMAX is the way to go even though Sprint’s bigger competitors Verizon and AT&T have disregarded WIMAX in favor of another 4G network known as LTE (Long Term Evolution). LTE is a project in the 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) and is an easier progression from our current wireless networks. While some are concerned that the industry’s two largest carriers are not backing WiMAX, Google, Comcast, and Time Warner are rumored to be jumping on the WiMAX bandwagon. Not to mention, WiMAX was the big buzz word at the CTIA Wireless show in Las Vegas. On Tuesday, Nokia presented its most updated version of N180 Internet Tablet, a WiMAX device projected to run on Sprint’s Xohm network. Motorola displayed a WiMAX enabled car with music, video, and data mapping streaming wirelessly from temporary WiMAX towers placed in the city. All of the hype and optimism surrounding WiMAX is great news for Sprint but may be bad news for Sirius and XM satellite radio.

Sirius and XM have just received the long awaited approval from the Department of Justice for the Sirius XM merger that was first announced back in February of 2007. The merger would double their customer base making it much easier to cover fixed costs. Sirius and XM are also hoping that the merger will help ease the highly competitive environment so acquisition and marketing spending can be lowered. However, with the development of WiMAX, Sirius and XM will face competition from Internet radio which could be streamed wirelessly into cars or mobile phones. Sirius and XM have more than just the pending approval from the FCC to worry about.

Amid all the WiMAX demonstrations in cars and and the mobile flexibility WiMAX is set to offer, Chrysler has decided to jump on the bandwagon. At the North American International Auto Show, the company announced that it is working on a state-of-the-art in-vehicle communications system that will eventually feature wireless. The announcement was confirmed in a press release today.

Frank Klegon, Chrysler’s executive vice president of product development, explains the company’s thinking:

We recognize that customers are spending more and more time in their vehicles, and that the automobile is becoming much like an additional room in the home or office. To address this evolving reality, Chrysler vehicles will soon boast an unprecedented level of vehicle connectivity, delivering a wide array of important communications features directly to our customers, in their vehicles.

What does this mean for these future vehicle owners? If they thought features like in-vehicle DVD players, GPS and “hands-free” technologies like Bluetooth and voice command were great, what WIMAX can offer is incomparable. WiMAX-enabled vehicles will include internet search, voice-command e-mail access, streaming movies and music, file transfers, online shopping and more. So, practically speaking, while on a road trip your family could watch streaming video while you do an online search for local restaurants to check out at your next pit stop–all while keeping an eye on your office e-mail.

According to the press release plans are set for some of these features to be integrated in Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles “over the next few years.”