Sprint Needs Android

More specifically, WiMax needs Android.  Not just Android handsets but also Android netbooks.  Any device Sprint can get Android into with WiMax, they have to do it.

Intel, a backer of WiMax, now says they'll support any mobile broadband connectivity.  And it makes a lot of sense.  Users don't care if they're on LTE or WiMax.  Thus, Intel will integrate HSPA chips along with their mobile chips.  This is a great victory for Dave the Mobile Warrior and all who want choices.

Well, Sprint and Clearwire, despite the economic woes we're going through, need to take advantage of a time when companies typically scuttle or curtail their plans and get as much of the country blanketed with WiMax coverage.  Their two biggest competitors going with a shared LTE network, the WiMax backers cannot afford missteps.

One of the thing they can get going for them is Android.  Google is a friend of WiMax as far as wireless access is concerned and Sprint can really use Google's name, innovation, and muscles.  Earlier, we learned Google is courting Asus into the Android camp.

If Google can come out with Android netbooks and handsets linked to the WiMax network (hopefully, on their terms), it may go a long way in change the landscape of the mobile market and bring about controls to users.  It's may have even greater ramification than Apple's entry into the mobile device market.

Sprint does not have long to get WiMax up and running.  And it needs all the time and help it can get.  Once WiMax gets out of Baltimore and into more cities, I'm predicting we'll see news about WiMax and Android.