Clearwire to offer its own WiMax phones

In its conference call Wednesday, Clearwire said it would be offering its own branded WiMax handset.

The company, which is majority-owned by Sprint, said it is working with HTC and Samsung on 4G devices that will carry its brand. This will not be the EVO 4G, which is slated to hit Sprint later this summer.

“Over the near term, we expect to launch new and improved Clear spot devices that connect up to eight WiFi-enabled devices at anytime, including the new Apple iPad,” said William Morrow, CEO of Clearwire. “And we’re often asked about handsets and I’m pleased to announce that we will have two new 4G WiMax handsets by the end of the year. We’re working with Samsung on an Android-based device optimized for heavy video communications that leverage the high capacity, low latency, high-speed characteristic of our network. In addition, we’re working with HTC on a second 3G/4G/WiFi-enabled phone.”

There is no word on what type of device to expect of what the price will be but it’s always cool to see more 4G smartphones on the way. I would imagine HTC’s device will be similar to the Evo 4G but tailored for Clearwire. As for Samsung, it will probably bring out a followup to the Mondi, which was a mobile Internet device that featured a 4.3-inch touchscreen, 3-megapixel camera and ran Windows Mobile.

Of course, if Clearwire switches over the Long-Term Evolution in the future, these devices could be relatively useless.

[Via Seeking Alpha]