YoDude

Samsung m300 Vivace 5/14
Samsung m510 Fantasy 5/14 – replaces m500
Samsung m620 Flipper 4/1 – music centric, Power vision. Replaces the M1
Sanyo 3200 4/22 – replaces 3100
Sanyo 7050 4/1 – Rugged MIL spec vision. Autonomour GPS. Replaces 7000
Sanyo Katana II - June
Sierra 595U 4/22 – USB Rev A card. Will replace the Novatel USB
Sierra 597E 4/22 – express card.
Novatel Express 2/11 – will now be carried in Retail.
Moto ic502 Silver 4/1
Moto Franklin Q 2/11
ic902 Diamondback 5/14 – Power Source/Hybrid EVDO
PPC 6800 Titan May – replaces PPC 6700
Palm Sherlock - June

Originally posted by KBAM:

Does anyone notice, over the next six months, the conspicuous absence of thoroughbred iDEN phones?

Geez, an i890? An i590? A BB 8xxx? An i880 in "Mustard"? An i90cII? An i99cl "Jim Jones Edition"?

Will the last iDEN caller please turn out the status light...

--BAM

Originally posted by martin_j001:

Very good point, and also something I noticed right away..... Not a good sign....

Originally posted by tDAWG:

Because the iden phone( one and only i might add) is the i902. I think its funny how the phone selection for Sprint has dropped out considerably since the merger. Sanyo that, Sanyo this, and then Motos that been on other networks for the last two years. Whatever happen to the innovative Sprint. When they merge i surely thought that the iden production was going to double or even triple. But hey, if Sprint wants to commit loyalty to a company sucide then they are doing a good job of it. Remember when Sprint had a touch screen phone, it was the first in the industry with a color screen....... Now its what everyone else has.

http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=5 <<<< Thats in 2001, now tell me what kinda phone we should have in 2007!! Something simliar to a iphone or better.

Originally posted by YoDude:

Of course we as enthusiasts are interested in new handsets however, the carrier is walking a fine line with the average customers contract terms (renewal period) on one side and the need to move customers to a newer technology quickly and clear inventories of older handsets and support collateral.

Your observations about both sides of the house was a good one. That, and recent announcements of manufacturers participation in WiMAX may indicate that WiMAX is the "new" technology I speak of.

We saw the same hiccup in new model deployment between the Condor and Falcon. (With the same foretelling of doom in some posts I might add. ) With the Falcon it was due to the government mandated GPS chip upgrade.

Here it may be the WiMAX chip. I doesn't take Malcolm Forbes to figure out that Sprint's only way out of their impending financial crisis will be the rapid adoption of WiMAX by a strong customer base, word of mouth generated by advanced handset features, and re-capturing share from the other carriers.

In a way, their recent mishandling of the Nextel brand identity may be their saving grace.
More on that later...