Will Sprint Sell Subsidized, WiMax-Enabled Notebooks?

While Xohm, Sprint's oft-delayed WiMax service, still hasn't graduated from trials here in the U.S., a few details are starting to emerge about how the company might sell individual WiMax-enabled devices. During a news conference in Taipei on Monday, Acer said its new WiMax-equipped Aspire 5920 notebook will be sold through various providers (including Sprint) wrapped up in nice little service bundles, similar to the way mobile phones are sold.

Here's where it gets interesting, though. According to a report from IDG News Service, pricing for the Aspire 5920 will vary, depending on the individual service plan a customer selects. Whether this means you'll technically be getting a subsidized WiMax notebook from Sprint remains unclear.

At this year's CES, Sprint reiterated that it would not force its Xohm customers to sign contracts or subject them to early termination fees. That makes sense since the network is supposed to be device agnostic. As such, Sprint says it will rely on tiered subscription models. In other words, the longer the subscription a customers buys, the cheaper the service will be. At the same time, the company said this model would require that WiMax subscribers pay full price for all their hardware, which seems to contradict Acer's announcement.

Sprint did not immediately return our calls for clarification.

SEE UPDATE BELOW

Acer, of course, is one of several laptop manufacturers who have committed to using Intel's embedded WiMax/WiFi module, Echo Peak, which is a part of the chipmaker's new Centrino Pro platform. Lenovo, Panasonic and Toshiba are also slated to ship WiMax enabled laptops later this year, although no formal dates have been announced by any of these companies.

Earlier this month, Nokia unveiled one of its first WiMax-enabled devices at CTIA: the N810 tablet, which is scheduled for an early summer release. Similarly, Everex and Asus have both shown off WiMax-enabled versions of the Cloudbook and Eee PC.

Update: Okay. A Sprint representative just got back to us and it seems either there was an error with the IDG report or someone at Acer was misinformed.

Says Sprint spokesman John Polivka:

Acer and other manufacturers are developing access devices which will work on WiMax networks, such as Sprint's Xohm. Their device is not being sold by Sprint, and it will not be tied to any Sprint service plan. The source may be referring to other providers and their service plans. Sprint Xohm will indeed have subscriptions, versus traditional contracts, based on the customer and not the device. In traditional telecom, each device is a customer. We will accomodate multiple devices under each customer, in home and away subscription packages, though details have yet to be announced.

So there you have it. No discounts on WiMax devices from Sprint.

[IDG News Service]