For anyone wondering which carrier would up the ante on the Tablet game, Sprint has answered the call. In a recent interview with Forbes, Sprint’s President of Business Markets, Paget Alves, let it be known that the company plans on bringing a new tablet to the market, which will run on the company’s 4G network.
The device is said to arrive sometime in 2011, but manufacturing details and specs are still unknown for now. Bringing the tablet to market would make Sprint’s 4G spectrum complete since they already have two 4G phones (HTC Evo & Samsung Epic), a 4G capable notebook (Dell Inspiron 11z), a 4G capable netbook (Dell Inspiron Mini 10) and a few USB modems.
Sprint’s Director of 4G, Tereasa Kellett, says that the company wants their customers to have plenty of choice when itcomes to 4G. Right now the only tablet they carry is the Samsung Galaxy Tab and they want to expand their market with other operating systems, according to Alves. So this tablet news might just end up being a dead-end for Android lovers, unless anyone wants to jump ship for a RIM Blackberry Playbook, or Windows-based tablet.
Alves also believes that the majority of their tablet buyers are and will be business users, mainly Chief Information Officers who want to deploy the devices to their employees who are searching for lighter, cheaper laptop alternatives for travel. Also, the fact that Sprint offers discounts to business customers is a major draw, and the company is currently researching new bundle packages as well.
It would be nice to see a new 4G Android tablet come from Sprint, and speaking of 4G, hopefully that network will start expanding at a faster rate. As a Sprint customer myself with an Evo 4G, I still haven’t had the opportunity to experience its speed, thanks to the joys of living in a small town. Now if Verizon’s new 4G network starts showing up in the area, Sprint might have some major competition in the new year.
Source: Forbes