Handspring and Sprint Announce Pact to Bring CDMA Treos to Market
CNET News.com reports that Handspring and Sprint have announced an agreement to produce and market a CDMA-based Treo handheld communicator. According to the article, Handspring President Ed Colligan said, "There is some exclusivity for a period of time...and there was some compensation from Sprint, but this is a strategic announcement."
To us, this is a surprising development, because a relationship with Verizon arguably could have been more productive to bring the CDMA-based version to market. Verizon Wireless also uses CDMA technology, and seems to have a stronger network infrastructure in the Northeastern United States. On the other hand, Sprint has demonstrated its ability to connect with customers in its recent advertising campaigns, and strong promotion of the Handspring devices might change the demand for the product substantially.