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Sprint mandates WiFi in future smartphones, Tour to get WiFi in 2010
July 10th, 2009
By Ari Driessen
In a move that seems a long time in coming, Sprint has taken the plunge and announced that it will require its original equipment manufacturers to include WiFi in all smartphone devices moving forward.
This Sunday, the much anticipated BlackBerry Tour 9630 – arguably the flagship BlackBerry for CDMA carriers – will become available for both Sprint and Verizon. Many reviewers of the Tour (ourselves included) have bemoaned the device’s lack of WiFi, which is a particularly significant omission in this day and age for a handset billed as a world phone.
While a number of new and improved BlackBerry devices are likely to hit CDMA carriers in the mean time, the BlackBerry Tour is set to be re-launched in 2010, this time boasting WiFi.
There’s no word on exactly when Sprint will declare open season on WiFi-less smartphones, but we can all probably agree that sooner is better than later.
[Via PhoneScoop]
