Quick, can you tell these two swirling orbs apart? That’s Sony Ericsson’s logo on the left, and Clearwire’s on the right — and SE thinks they’re confusingly similar enough to have filed a federal trademark lawsuit in Virginia. The situation is pretty basic: Sony Ericsson holds trademark registrations on the various iterations of its sphere logos, and the company thinks Clearwire is confusing the mobile market with its version — and it definitely doesn’t want Clearwire to stamp the logo on phones, which Clearwire is eventually planning to do, money problems or no. SE’s asked the court to forbid Clearwire from using the logo and for a host of monetary damages, which seems like a big risk for a company that’s having cashflow problems to begin with — we’ll see what happens.
Clearwire’s talking more about some of the glorious numbers it’s seeing as it drives around the greater Phoenix area testing its trial LTE network, and we think one specific quote pretty much sums it up: “this isn’t your grandfather’s LTE.” That statement was made in comparing Clearwire’s results — bumping up against 90Mbps in some configurations — to the 5 to 12Mbps that Verizon is quoting for its first-gen commercial LTE network, though they’re quick to note in the same breath that Clear’s test is on an unloaded network without a deluge of users all trying to stream professional sports games in HD at the same time. What does that all mean for Clear’s existing WiMAX deployment? The company’s as noncommittal on the subject as ever, saying only that WiMAX continues to be “best for the customer” today but that “potentially in the future that could be WiMAX and LTE.” Needless to say, though, they’re taking the LTE option pretty seriously if they’re dumping serious cash into testing it out and publishing the results. Follow the break for Clear’s teaser footage — wouldn’t you like access to this action?
Only a few weeks ago Clear was offering its iDevice specific 4G hotspot at a discount for the holidays. The device normally sold for $99 and during the holiday special, you could pick it up for $20. At the time some may have wondered if the special deal was a hint that the thing wasn’t selling that well rather than just holiday cheer on Clear’s part.
Some users on the Clear forums are now reporting that they have been told that the iSpot has been discontinued. User darrelllynn wrote, “Clear today discontinued iSpot. In fact, most representatives were in the dark as of this afternoon. Did any of you hear differently?”
Later in the thread, a Clear rep chimed in and confirmed that after the current stock of iSpot devices are sold out in retail locations no more will be ordered. The thing that many owners wondered about is if the service would be continued. The rep said that the service would continue to be supported and that there were some of the iSpot devices held back to serve as warranty replacements if needed.
4G carrier Clearwire’s chairman Craig McCaw has resigned, prompting speculation that the WiMAX operator is experiencing significant operating issues. According to an SEC filing, McCaw’s departure “is not due to any disagreements with the company”; he will be replaced by previous co-chair Ben Wolff.
“Mr. McCaw served as Chairman of the Board of the Company for over 2 years, and served as the Chairman of the Company’s predecessor entity for more than 5 years. Mr. McCaw’s decision to resign is not due to any disagreements with the Company on any matters relating to the Company’s operations, policies, or practices” Clearwire SEC filing
Clear has come under renewed 4G competition in recent months, with Verizon launching its own 4G LTE network and T-Mobile offering high-speed HSPA+. The carrier has recently axed its CLEAR iSpot Apple-centric mobile hotspot, which offered cut-price 4G service to iPad and other Apple device users, but which modders discovered was readily tweaked to support any WiFi-enabled hardware.
Well, that certainly didn’t last very long, did it? Looks like Clear is already sending its unusual iSpot product to the great WiMAX network in the sky less than five months after its introduction. As a refresher, the iSpot’s claim to fame is that it was designed to work only with iPhones, iPod touches, and iPads — and in exchange for the crazy restriction, Clear would charge you less than $100 for the hotspot itself and just $25 a month for unlimited 4G access capped at 6Mbps down. Of course, it’s easy to understand why Clear would want to forget the iSpot ever existed: its MAC address filtering was easily defeated and plagued with reports that even approved devices were being denied access, suggesting that the concept probably wasn’t a solid one in the first place. For what it’s worth, Clear retail stores are still selling through remaining stock if you’re interested — and the company will maintain a supply of units for warranty replacements — but otherwise, you’re out of luck.
Sprint has turned on its 4G WiMAX service in the San Francisco Bay Area, bringing high-speed wireless connectivity to four new markets there. San Francisco, San Jose, Palo Alto and Oakland join the existing 67 markets Sprint and Clearwire serves, just as promised back in late November.
You’ll obviously need a WiMAX-compatible device to make the most of the 4G connection, such as the HTC EVO 4G, but Sprint reckons subscribers can expect downloads ten times faster than with 3G wireless. The carrier is under pressure from arch-rival Verizon, which launched its own 4G network – based on LTE technology – earlier this month.
Press Release:
Tech Lovers Rejoice! The San Francisco Bay Area is Wired with Sprint 4G
The Power and Speed of Sprint 4G is Now Available in 71 Markets Nationwide
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BUSINESS WIRE), December 28, 2010 – Today, Sprint (NYSE:S) officially unleashed the power of 4G in one of the world’s largest hotbeds of technological creativity and advancement – the San Francisco Bay Area. The new mobile broadband service from Sprint enables fast mobile downloads, wireless video chat and turbo-charged mobile Web browsing up to 10 times faster than 3G service1. The service will initially be available in San Francisco, San Jose, Palo Alto and Oakland. Nationwide, tech enthusiasts are enjoying the power and speed of the Sprint 4G network, in 71 markets2 across the country, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and New York City.
The Sprint 4G Network can be accessed with a wide range of 3G/4G capable devices. For example, tourists can snap a photo of a San Francisco landmark with their Samsung Epic™ 4G and use Google Goggles to pull up facts about it by using visual search technology. Customers can video chat on their HTC EVO™ 4G, and families traveling for the holidays can power up the Overdrive™ 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot to share 4G speeds with up to five WiFi-enabled devices – such as an iPad™, laptop, iPod Touch™ or game console – making downloads, streaming video and Web browsing fast and easy. For students, consumers and small businesses that rely on Internet access, Web browsing and social networking to stay connected, Sprint also offers Dell™ Inspiron™ Mini 10 (1012) netbook designed to deliver maximum connectivity in a compact size.
“The Bay Area is responsible for creating so much new technology and today we are bringing the power of 4G to our customers in that region who are hungry for fast mobile broadband,” said Matt Carter, president-Sprint 4G. “The introduction of Sprint 4G will be a great asset for this area, and we encourage customers to try it by using one of our well-regarded 4G mobile devices.”
The Bay Area’s own Raj Singh of San Jose was one of five winners of the Sprint 4G App Challenge. Singh developed an innovative application to help food lovers be more productive in the kitchen. His application, Recipe Search, is a reverse recipe finder app. The user simply speaks the ingredients they have in their refrigerator or pantry and will then see a display of meals with directions for creating something with those ingredients.
Sprint first launched 4G in Baltimore in September 2008 and since then has delivered a robust portfolio of 4G devices, including smartphones, USB aircards, notebook/netbook products, mobile hotspots and routers, that are currently being used by consumers and businesses across the country.
Technically speaking, it’s not actually the 28th of December in the Bay Area yet, but Sprint’s already out in front with its announcement that WiMAX connectivity has been activated in and around the city of San Francisco. We were promised this development exactly three weeks ago, back when Los Angeles and Washington DC were first familiarizing themselves with the glorious new speed, and today the Bay Area, which also includes San Jose, Palo Alto and Oakland, adds to a total of 71 metropolitan markets that have been lit up with Sprint’s finest wireless offering. Guess Verizon had better start fast and keep running if it wants to keep up, eh?
Novatel Wireless has been promising WiMAX-capable MiFi mobile hotspots since February this year, but it’s taken until now for the 4G device to show up in any form. Fresh through the FCC is the Novatel MiFi 4082, complete with CDMA/EVDO and WiMAX connectivity that can be shared out over a WiFi connection.
Novatel has slapped a confidentiality agreement on the juicier parts of the filing, so there are no test photos nor user guide to peruse, only the MiFi 4082 label able. Still, back in February the company was happily gloating over seeing 18Mbps throughput in their WiMAX MiFi testing, with a theoretical peak of over 30Mbps downlink and 10Mbps uplink.
Real-world speeds will obviously be lower, but the market for WiMAX mobile hotspots is still pretty scarce – Sprint’s Overdrive is the only example the carrier offers – and so if Novatel get the pricing, size and battery life right, the MiFi 4082 could still be a winner despite the amount of time its taking to get to market. Still, the company has a lot to do when it comes to pricing; Clear is offering its own WiMAX hotspots at heavily reduced prices this week.
If you’ve a taste for WiMAX but a near-empty wallet, Clear reckons it can make do with the meager scrapings left at the bottom. The company is running a week of holiday deals, and so far you can pick up the CLEAR Spot 4G mobile hotspot for just $20 rather than the usual $99; the Apple-devoted should hold off, since as of Thursday you’ll be able to grab a CLEAR iSpot – complete with a $25 month-to-month service plan – for just $20.
The iSpot – which is locked down to wirelessly connecting to Apple devices, though there are various hacks out there if you’re feeling unofficially ambitious – is usually $79. Meanwhile there are two-for-one offers on USB modems, or – as of tomorrow – you can pick up a USB CLEAR modem and get a free home modem too.
For hackers, Clearmust have known that its iSpot mobile hotspot would be hard to resist — $100 for the device contract-free plus unlimited WiMAX for $25 a month is a pretty insane deal, after all, and the only catch is that they try to lock non-iOS devices out of the action. Indeed, it took mere hours for unlocks to start coming out of the woodwork, but now it’s easier than ever: the developer of one of the original iSpot hacks has circled back to create a new unlock that requires nothing more than a couple link clicks while you’re on a machine connected to the hotspot. How is that possible? Turns out there’s a vulnerability that makes it possible to execute arbitrary commands on the iSpot through web code, and Clear hasn’t yet updated the firmware to patch it. On that note, the developer tells us that there are actually some iPads that aren’t able to connect to the iSpot without the hack, ostensibly because Apple is using some MAC addresses that the iSpot’s current firmware isn’t expecting — so ironically, you might need this “jailbreak” just to use the thing the way Clear intended. As always with these sorts of things, proceed with caution — we don’t have an iSpot lying around to try this ourselves, so let us know how it goes.
