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Sprint soft launching XOHM in "the next few days"
Despite rumor and conjecture to the contrary, Sprint's XOHM-branded WiMax service plans are alive and well. Well enough to soft-launch anyway. The Chicago, Washington D.C., and Baltimore pipes will all go live "in the next few days," according to Ben Shen, VP of Product Management and Partnership Development. Official launch is still (somewhat) expected for Q2 2008. Business as usual while they court prospective financial suitors, perhaps.
Sprint still mulling WiMAX options
The deal seemed all but imminent back in July, but apparently, Sprint and Clearwire never actually signed a definitive agreement to cooperate on a WiMAX build-out. Now, it seems that Sprint is going down the same road it traversed this summer, as it looks for creative ways to handle its $5 billion WiMAX situation which it "remains committed to." Aside from actively seeking a new CEO, higher-ups in the outfit are considering a potential merger with Clearwire, which would enable the resulting entity to be publicly traded. According to The Wall Street Journal, other options include seeking a "strategic investor for its WiMAX unit, acquiring Clearwire outright or formalizing the deal struck in July." As it stands, however, it doesn't look like any major WiMAX restructuring will take place until a new head honcho clocks in, but it was suggested that Sprint was in talks with Google to "carry devices based on Google's new operating system," which opens up a whole new can of worms...
Sprint to ditch traditional contracts with Xohm, rely on subscriptions
We've yet to find an average joe (or jane) who just adores that two-year agreement they signed to receive a single subsidized device on day one, and while Sprint hasn't been one to let folks off the hook early, it is trying a slightly different approach with Xohm. Reportedly, the carrier will be relying on "subscriptions," which will enable customers to save more when paying for larger chunks of time, while not forcing them into anything long-term. On the same token, this also means that you'll likely be paying full price for any hardware. Notably, the outfit's CTO also made clear that Xohm "would not be backed by what the industry calls service-level agreements," so don't count on any kind of minimum bandwidth guarantee. As for pricing, the numbers are apparently still being worked, but it was suggested that the service would "probably be based on tiers."[Via TechDirt, image courtesy of BroadbandReports]
Sprint paints pretty picture of Xohm's future
Following up on today's Xohm demonstration, Sprint has announced that its mobile WiMAX initiative is really gaining steam. Aside from stating that it was expecting a "commercial launch" in select cities by Q2 of next year, the outfit also noted that "Acer, Asus, Lenovo, Panasonic and Toshiba have expressed intent to embed WiMAX into their next generation laptops and UMPCs, so these devices can connect with the Xohm WiMAX network." Additionally, the firm stated that there have been "a number of encouraging developments with carriers around the globe," pointing out Korea Telecom in particular. Of course, there's lots more gloating (and tidbits of useful information, too) where this came from, so be sure and hit the read link for the full skinny if you're interested.
Motorola demos Sprint's Xohm WiMAX network, drives recklessly
Part of the WiMAX World festivities taking place this week, Motorola was on hand in Chicago last night to demonstrate fragments of the Mobile WiMAX build-out it's been throwing together to support the upcoming launch of Sprint's Xohm service. A leisurely cruise took curious onlookers down the Chicago River while Moto demonstrated a variety of WiMAX-friendly goodies like VoIP and streaming video, with handoffs flawlessly (apparently) transitioning the signal from access point to access point amongst canyons of skyscrapers, steel, and cement. The company also took its demo onto the "streets along the Chicago River while driving at speeds beyond 50 mph," a clear violation of local traffic laws, so we're hoping Moto's got some money socked away in its meager coffers to pony up some fines. Anyway, if all goes well, the demos foretell a late '07 soft launch of Xohm's Chicago network, with a commercial release in April of next year.
Sprint and Motorola take a slow boat down Chicago's Xohm fast lane
The dream of true untethered broadband connectivity is nearly upon us dear US-American readers. Last night, Sprint and Motorola teamed up to do a live demonstration of Sprint's Xohm-branded, mobile WiMax service on the Chicago River. Fortunately Ars Technica was there to take all the 4G action in for the benefit of mankind. An impromptu benchmark courtesy of Speedtest.net clocked the 802.16e WWAN network at more than twice the speed (in both directions) of Verizon's EV-DO Rev. A network. In fact, Ars called their Xohm experience "far superior" to Verizon's speedy EV-DO service...
Switched On: The WiMAX Window (Part 2)
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment:Last week's Switched On discussed some of the promise of WiMAX as delivered through Sprint's Xohm service. There are at least three larger open questions about the prospects for WiMAX, particularly as an embedded technology. First, we now know more about how the service will be offered, but we don't know at what prices it will be offered, at least for the blanket subscription. Web surfing on an EV-DO connection may not quite rival a home broadband experience, but it's often more than adequate for most Web tasks. WiMAX will certainly have to be priced significantly below the $60 per month that today's operators charge as an add-on to a wireless subscription or whatever they may lower prices to by 2008 and 2009.Second, while the idea of not charging a subscription for embedded access is a step toward ubiquitous wireless access for devices, it is far from a guarantee of adoption, particularly in a competitive consumer electronics category. Embedding such products exacts a premium both at the cash register and in terms of battery life. Both the PSP and Nintendo DS include WiFi, but digital camera manufacturers have struggled with it outside of the professional market and it isn't in any mainstream camcorder.While the Zune and especially the Sansa Connect have some interesting features built on WiFi (as should the Slacker portable player due later this year), neither has come close to rivaling the iPod, which (at least up until this point) has lacked an FM radio, much less a a data radio. However, there's a strong argument that WiFi's limited coverage makes it far less useful than WiMAX (imagine if you could only use your cell phone at home or at a coffee shop).Last week's column discussed some of the niche devices that are slated to appear early in the Xohm rollout. However, while there are certainly strong pockets of growth among digital cameras and MP3 players, their overall growth is slowing in the U.S. (and camcorder units are declining) as average prices drop, making it more difficult to cram in new features such as WiFi and WiMAX. Saturation is driving this more than cannibalization from the cell phone. Xohm can help its own cause. If it can breathe new life into existing devices or help spur new popular ones (say, a wireless, portable DVR / video viewer), it will drive demand and differentiation from the cell phone. However, as Sprint embraces retail consumer electronics, it will see that -- on some level -- the enemy is itself, a familiar position for a company that has juggled hosting the wireless networks of Helio, Disney Mobile, its cable joint venture Pivot and its own Boost.
Switched On: The WiMAX window (Part 1)
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment:It's a beautiful afternoon at SeaWorld. You're walking through one exhibit when you spot a group of penguins that look like they're about to break into a number from Happy Feet III: Mumble's Bumble, which you watched with your nephew after you wirelessly downloaded it to your portable video player last week.You shoot some video with the high-definition camcorder pulled from your shirt pocket, press a button, and the video is soon uploaded to your favorite video sharing site. By the time you're out of the exhibit, the little scamp has sent you a video response on your internet tablet asking if you managed not to spill the popcorn this time. As you head home and turn on the wirelessly streaming music service in your car, you think to yourself that he'll get his the next time you two go head-to-head in that multiplayer shooter you love to play on your PSP2 during lunch in the park. You laugh that knowing, resolved laughter that precedes the credit roll in sitcoms.If all goes as planned with Xohm, Sprint's WiMAX service, much of this scenario could actually become reality before future presidential candidates air their negative ads targeting the next incumbent. Sprint claims that Xohm will deliver between two and four megabits per second -- between four and five times the throughput of today's 3G networks -- at a tenth of the infrastructure cost. But what's even more extraordinary than Xohm's throughput or cost efficiency is its business model. Sprint has decided that the wireless future is in some ways bigger than any operator can -- or might want to -- completely control, and is making a $5 billion bet on the limits of convergence in the cellphone.
Sprint's XOHM WiMAX service gets official
The Xohm website is now hot, making yesterday's rumor pretty incontestable at this point. Although seeing a press release would really seal the deal. The teaser site simply states that Xohm is coming in the Spring of 2008 and promises to "expand the internet experience" to a new class of internet enabled devices. Right, a bit later than "by year-end 2007" which Sprint was originally touting. We'll update you with the press release which we expect to pop any minute now. With any luck, we'll also learn how to pronounce their new mobile WiMAX brand.Update: Ah ha! As reader Deluxe points out, it's pronounced "Zome" as in Rome. Had to bust out Firefox since the audio won't play in Safari.Update 2: The Press release is out. The "end of 2007" soft launch is still expected for Chicago and Baltimore / D.C. markets. Lucky you, John Waters.
Sprint's mobile WiMAX service called XOHM?
We have information from an anonymous tipster claiming that Sprint is set to take the wraps of their new WiMAX brand dubbed XOHM. It's anybody's guess at this point how you'd pronounce that ("x-ohm" or "zohm" perhaps) but we're told to expect a formal announcement as early as Thursday. The timing is certainly legit what with plans to have the 4G service up and running in select cities "by year-end 2007." We'd expect any new branding to encompass the combined efforts of those Clearwire and Google deals though our source ain't sayin'. Perhaps XOHM was the delayed little secret behind Sprint's "wireless evolution" teaser site which was pulled without explanation before its July 4th pop date. Who knows, but anything that moves us closer to a WiMax-enabled N800 and that "ultra thin" WiMax smartphone from Palm is fine by us.Update: Bonus: xohm.com, while rendering a blank page, points to 67.192.32.138, which also resolves server1.sprintnextelbrandsite.com. So put that in your pipe and smoke it.
