Sprint Readies PTT Phone
One of the sneaky ways of finding out a carrier’s plans is to review the phones submitted to the FCC for approval. RCR news has dumpster dived at the FCC and found information on the Sanyo SCP 5500, which we expect to be SprintPCS’ inaugural PTT handset. Sprint PCS is a frequent purchaser of Sanyo handsets, and has announced they will have a PTT offering, called ReadyLink, in 4Q03. In fact, PCS announced their PTT intentions before Verizon Wireless, but VZW beat them out — albeit with the lackluster, B&W, non BREW, non 1xRTT Motorola v60. Expect the Sanyo phone to have 1xRTT data, color screen, camera, and a dedicated PTT button. The mystery remains: Who is the technology provider for Sprint’s PTT? Is it the low-latency QChat technology controlled by Nextel, or the slower Winphoria solution deployed by VZW, or…?
