Hasta La Gadget!

Quick, can you tell these two swirling orbs apart? That’s Sony Ericsson’s logo on the left, and Clearwire’s on the right — and SE thinks they’re confusingly similar enough to have filed a federal trademark lawsuit in Virginia. The situation is pretty basic: Sony Ericsson holds trademark registrations on the various iterations of its sphere logos, and the company thinks Clearwire is confusing the mobile market with its version — and it definitely doesn’t want Clearwire to stamp the logo on phones, which Clearwire is eventually planning to do, money problems or no. SE’s asked the court to forbid Clearwire from using the logo and for a host of monetary damages, which seems like a big risk for a company that’s having cashflow problems to begin with — we’ll see what happens.

[Thanks, Alex]

Sony Ericsson sues Clearwire for trademark infringement originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Jan 2011 18:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, that certainly didn’t last very long, did it? Looks like Clear is already sending its unusual iSpot product to the great WiMAX network in the sky less than five months after its introduction. As a refresher, the iSpot’s claim to fame is that it was designed to work only with iPhones, iPod touches, and iPads — and in exchange for the crazy restriction, Clear would charge you less than $100 for the hotspot itself and just $25 a month for unlimited 4G access capped at 6Mbps down. Of course, it’s easy to understand why Clear would want to forget the iSpot ever existed: its MAC address filtering was easily defeated and plagued with reports that even approved devices were being denied access, suggesting that the concept probably wasn’t a solid one in the first place. For what it’s worth, Clear retail stores are still selling through remaining stock if you’re interested — and the company will maintain a supply of units for warranty replacements — but otherwise, you’re out of luck.

[Thanks, rand]

Clear iSpot discontinued already originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Dec 2010 17:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hey, don’t knock the naming engineers — “Clear Modem with WiFi” just works. Indeed, that’s the official title of Clear’s new at-home WiMAX modem (the same one that flew through the FCC back in September), designed to bring the 4G superhighway into one’s home for as little as $35 per month. According to the operator, it’s an all-in-one solution that’s “around the size of a book,” offering 4G reception as well as an internal 802.11b/g/n router to distribute those waves across your home without the need for a separate WLAN router. It’s available today from your local Clear store, with a $120 outright price or a $7 per month lease rate. Furthermore, Clear home service customers can add home voice service, with unlimited local and long distance calling in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico, for an extra 15 clams per month. Oh, and if your math skills are a tad fuzzy, we’d recommend buying it if you’re planning to keep the service for greater than 17 months. You’re welcome.

Continue reading Clear launches new at-home WiMAX router with integrated WiFi

Clear launches new at-home WiMAX router with integrated WiFi originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Dec 2010 11:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Seems like Sprint wants to get every last lick of 4G coverage in before Verizon flips the switch on LTE — today, its joint venture with Clearwire is launching WiMAX in the City of Angels a day ahead of schedule. Lest you think Los Angeles is getting special treatment, five other cellular markets can now also get a taste of 5Mbps to 7Mbps download speeds, including Miami, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and our nation’s capitol, Washington D.C. That brings the total number of regions where you’ll get some mileage out of that $10 surcharge up to 68, in case you’re keeping track. What’s next? If the press release after the break is correct, San Francisco will finally satisfy its need for speed on December 28th. Not that any of these locales haven’t been secretly enjoying 4G already, of course.

Continue reading Sprint and Clearwire deliver WiMAX to Los Angeles, Ohio, Miami and Washington DC, promise SF on December 28th

Sprint and Clearwire deliver WiMAX to Los Angeles, Ohio, Miami and Washington DC, promise SF on December 28th originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Nov 2010 01:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Though it reported record growth in both revenue and subscriber count, Clearwire’s bad news outweighed the good as it announced its fourth quarter earnings today. Here’s the meat of it:

“The Company is actively pursuing a number of options to resolve its need for additional capital. The Company is in discussions with a number of its major shareholders and other third parties about a number of options, including potential strategic transactions, additional debt or equity financings and/or asset sales. While the Company is cautiously optimistic it will resolve its short-term funding needs in the near future, there can be no assurances. Thus, it is implementing a series of significant cash conservation measures to reduce costs, including: a substantial reduction in sales and marketing spending, a suspension of additional retail channel market launches of the CLEAR-branded operations in select markets including Denver and Miami, delays in the introduction of CLEAR-branded smartphones, a substantial reduction in the contractor workforce, a 15% reduction in the number of employees, and the discontinuation of development activities for sites not required for its current build plan. The Company currently has thousands of sites in various stages of planning and construction beyond its current build plan, and it intends to suspend zoning and permitting in a portion of those sites until such time as additional funding becomes available.”

Translation: they’re running low on cash, they’re looking for ways to raise more of it, and until they do, they aren’t launching those promised Clear-branded phones or opening any more retail locations. They’re also cutting staff by 15 percent, scaling back Clear marketing, and suspending network planning beyond stuff that’s already in the works — a pretty drastic step considering how much build-out Clearwire’s network still needs. Though Sprint depends heavily on Clearwire for its current WiMAX setup, it’s unclear whether Sprint would be willing to continue to dump cash into the partnership — particularly considering the recent rumors that they’re looking to reach out to other carriers — and Comcast has already gone on record saying they don’t see themselves turning into a Clearwire ATM.

Obviously, both Clearwire’s spectrum holdings and its infrastructure are extraordinarily valuable and we wouldn’t sound any alarms that Sprint’s WiMAX network is in any danger of disappearing, but we’re sure this is sounding some alarms at Sprint headquarters that it’s time to make some strategic moves. Should be interesting to see how this all plays out.

Clearwire reports Q4 earnings: staff, marketing, stores, and handset plans all scaled back originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Nov 2010 17:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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