The good news is that Sprint is expanding its 4G network to cover seven more metropolitan areas. The bad news is that its cornerstone smartphone, the HTC Evo 4G, is in very short supply these days.
The latest roll-out will bring Sprint’s 4G service to Rochester and Syracuse, New York; Merced and Visalia, California; Eugene, Oregon; and finally Tri-Cities and Yakima, Washington. They have to start somewhere, right? But Sprint is also planning to have 4G up and running in Los Angeles, New York and Miami by the end of the year.
Sweet? Not so fast. Sprint has reportedly sold approximately 300,000 units of its most popular portable, 4G-enabled device, finally bringing it up to the number the service provider originally announced (and then took back) following the launch weekend. But now, according to the Wall Street Journal, Sprint can’t keep up with the demand for the HTC Evo 4G. It’s great when a product is that popular, but not so great for business if you have to keep people waiting for weeks on end. They’ll eventually move on…with some exceptions.
The problem seems to be the exact same one with HTC’s Droid Incredible, which also saw the demand exceed supplies thanks to the growing AMOLED shortage. Anyone still interested in picking up an HTC Evo 4G can either try to rush and pick up one of the remaining white versions at Best Buy, or keep checking Sprint’s website to see when they’ll start shipping again.
Sprint does have other 4G-ready devices to make use of its faster 4G network. like But without the Evo 4G, essentially the first 4G smartphone, it’s not going to be as worth it for a lot of customers.
