Hasta La Gadget!

A few weeks after Nokia canceled its high-profile, WiMAX-capable N810 tablet, Nortel has announced that it is canning its mobile WiMAX business, ending a joint venture with the Israel-based Alvarion, according to Silicon Alley Insider.

The report said that WiMAX, a next-generation mobile Internet technology we profiled several months ago during its rollout in Baltimore, hasn’t taken off the way some of its backers had hoped. Sprint is behind the technology, but the three major competing carriers in the U.S.—AT&T Wireless, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless—are all betting on LTE instead.

At the same time, Nortel isn’t doing all that well lately as a whole, so this may or may not mean anything about the future of WiMAX.

We already knew that the Sprint-branded Treo Pro was making guest appearances at the occasional Best Buy, but thanks to a hard working web admin, you’re one step closer to owning one without having to step foot in the aforesaid store… if you’re willing to wait, that is. Palm’s CDMA Treo Pro has found itself a holding page on Best Buy’s website, and while we’re desperately hoping the $699.99 off-contract price is still subject to change (read: drop), those anxious to get in early can pre-order one as we speak. Loose estimates have it shipping in a week or two, but we noticed that the handset was go for in-store pickup in most B&M locations near us. Oh, and don’t forget the “Great Financing Offer” as you checkout — with a sticker pushing seven bills, you’ll probably need it.

[Thanks, Brian]

Filed under: Cellphones

Sprint Treo Pro now on sale at Best Buy originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It wasn’t that long ago that Monday mornings in the office were a depressing time — another cheerful weekend gone; another long week of work ahead. But, these days, being in the office on a Monday is a good thing, because if your login still works you’ve survived another scary layoff Friday. Spare a thought, then, for those whose system access has been cut off, including 1,300 from Sun (the first wave of a total of 6,000 planned job cuts), 8,000 workers at Sprint who are due to receive pink slips, 6,000 from Philips, and an unannounced number of IBM workers (rumored to be 16,000) who have also found themselves to be on the wrong side of the cost-cutting ax. In one final bit of cheery news, AMD has reported a $1.4 billion loss in the fourth quarter of 2008 and, after shedding its handheld graphics unit, is now selling its manufacturing operations to Advanced Technology Investment. Oh, sorry, you were hoping for some genuinely good news? How about this: that loss is smaller than AMD’s $1.8 billion loss from the same time last year. Now have a great day!

Read – Sun confirms 1,300 layoffs
Read – Sprint Nextel Plans to Cut 8,000 Jobs in Quarter
Read – Philips to Release 6000 Employees into Wild
Read – Several IBM employees report being laid off on Alliance@IBM
Read – IBM Confirms Layoffs
Read – AMD Reports $1.4 Billion Loss

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Recession roundup: Monday morning edition originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Jan 2009 09:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve received official word from the good folks at Sprint that the Treo Pro wasn’t supposed to be posted today, hence the unceremonious removal of every last trace of the thing within hours of its unveiling. According to the company, the phone will be sold just as soon as it makes it through the “customary testing process,” but it’s any guess how much longer they think that’s going to take at this point. All told, it probably wasn’t the way Sprint had hoped to take the wraps off, but let’s be honest, we knew this was coming for a hot minute now — we just want the Buy link, guys. See the full statement after the break.

Continue reading Sprint Treo Pro officially unavailable again — for now

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Sprint Treo Pro officially unavailable again — for now originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Jan 2009 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yo, Sprint, Palm, guys… seriously, give it up. We all know this thing’s coming, so can we at least get an announcement or something? We’ve seen the CDMA-flavored Treo Pro in Sprint livery in the wild already, and now we’re seeing the box, which — no surprise — bears a strong resemblance to its GSM bedfellow. As far as we can tell, this sucker is still on track for release before the end of the month, and with retail packaging floating around, it seems at least plausible — so here’s hoping, eh?

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Sprint’s Treo Pro in the wild, now with more box originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Jan 2009 02:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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