Sprint Debuts EV-DO, Music Downloads
Sprint launched its new high-speed entertainment offering on Monday, called Power Vision. The service will introduce a wireless music store, live and recorded television and multimedia downloads, the capability to transfer high-resolution pictures and video, and customized information channels.
The service is based on Sprint's new CDMA EV-DO network, which it had already launched in some airports and business districts across the country. According Sprint, the network averages speeds of 400-700kbps with peak rates to 2.0Mbps, close to home broadband speeds.
The high-speed network will be available to about 130 million people starting next month, and an additional 20 million by early next year.
"Convergence is here and it's real, making it more convenient than ever for people to stay connected to each other, to information, and to entertainment," Len Lauer, Sprint Nextel COO, said in a statement.
Chief among Power Vision's features is the Sprint Music Store, the first over-the-air music download service in the United States. While Verizon and Cingular already offer music phones, neither carrier lets users download music over the wireless network.
Sprint customers will be able to preview tracks, and purchase them for $2.50 USD per song. Initially, 250,000 songs will be available through the service. The price of the song will include a mobile version, as well as one that can be played on the PC through Windows Media Player, Sprint said.
"We expect that Sprint will introduce many customers to their first experience with downloading digital music on a Sprint Power Vision Phone," Lauer added.
Other services such as live and recorded television will offer subscribers the capability to view content from the NFL, Fox News, CNN To Go, NBC Mobile, ABC News Now, E! and the Cartoon Network, as well as music content provided by satellite radio service Sirius.
The Power Vision packages will come in pricing tiers of $15, $20 and $25 USD depending on the amount of data usage needed.
Two phones are being introduced with the service: the Sanyo MM-9000 for $229.99 USD after rebates with a qualifying contract, and the Samsung MM-A940 for $249.99 USD with a contract. Both phones will be able to hold up to 1GB of multimedia content through the use of an optional memory card.
Sprint expects to make additional phones that support Power Vision available by the end of the year.