Despite some early hurdles, it looks like Sprint's deployment of WiMAX, (their chosen successor to the current 3G network) is ready to roll after testing in Baltimore and DC. They've also been all buddy-buddy with Samsung over WiMAX, and they'll be helping to get the ball rolling on the hardware side of things with a WiMAX-enabled ExpressCard and baked-in WiMAX chipsets in devices like their Q1 UMPC.
See, the big problem with WiMAX is that it's only as good as the hardware that supports it. If some manufacturing big guns don't show up to the party, it may have a pretty difficult run into the mainstream. Currently Intel, Samsung & Motorola are on board with WiMAX, but with Motorola's handset business in a financial tailspin at the moment, they might not have the drawing power they once did. Sprint are saying they are going to be pushing out some dual-network devices which support both CDMA and WiMAX straight away, but if they don't make some headway soon, LTE will be breathing down their necks, courtesy of AT&T and Verizion.
[Business Wire]
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