14 DAY TRIAL // Sprint is not only the first wireless operator in the United States to have started to offer 4G services to its users, but it is also the first carrier to have a 4G capable smartphone available for purchase on its airwaves, the HTC EVO 4G. Currently, Sprint is the leading carrier on the 4G market in the US, that's for sure, but that might easily change in case it would have issues with the EVO 4G stock.
At the moment, Sprint is the third largest wireless carrier in the US buy number of subscribers. The launch of 4G services ahead of other operators was supposed to help it attract more customers on its side, but it seems that the shortages it experiences with EVO 4G prevent it from benefiting from a large adoption on the market.
“We thought we would have more of a head start than we'll end up having,” Chief Executive Dan Hesse said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal last week. According to Macquarie Group, Sprint managed to sell a number of around 300,000 HTC EVO 4G units, far less than what one might have expected. One of the impediments seems to be HTC's inability to keep up with the high demand the device enjoys at the carrier.
HTC EVO 4G has been in and out of stock at Sprint for quite some time now, and it seems that there are little chances that the issue would be solved anytime soon. Not to mention that it is the second Android-based smartphones from HTC that registers stock issues on the US market, following the problems Verizon Wireless has had with DROID Incredible ever since its official release at the end of April.
At the moment, the Android-based WiMAX-capable device is listed on Sprint's website with a “sold out” tag next to it. Priced at only $199.99 on an eligible 2-year contract agreement, the device can easily prove one of the best options out there: it comes with a 4.3-inch display, a 1 GHz Snapdragon processor, an 8.0-megapixel photo snapper, support for 3G and 4G networks, and a microSD memory card slot with support for up to 32GB of additional storage space.