Sprint opens its network to Android developers

Even though it's only got one Android device in its roster so far, wireless network operator Sprint today announced that it is turning over its network and product services to Android developers through the Sprint Developer Web site's new Android section.

With the Android 1.5 "Donut" SDK update, Android developers gained access to the CDMA telephony stack, where previously only the GSM stack was supported. So now that support for Sprint's wireless network protocol is built into Android, a Sprint developer program will help software developers exploit the "Now Network" and its strengths.

One such feature Sprint points out is its "Geofence" package, a mobile workforce management solution currently only available on Sprint's J2ME and BlackBerry devices which can provide network-triangulated location fixes for employees and more.

Additionally, the upcoming Sprint Developer Conference on October 26 will give interested developers first crack at Sprint's redesigned HTC Hero. Similar to the exclusive HTC Magic given away at Google I/O earlier this year, HTC will be giving away 400 free Hero handsets to the first developers who show up with to the HTC coding lab with the Android Development Environment 1.5 already installed.