Sprint not a huge fan of Windows Phone devices

Sprint, the nation's third largest wireless carrier, sounds like it isn't a big fan of Windows Phone devices. An exec for Sprint said not to expect any Windows Phone products until at least August.

If you want to get a new Windows Phone device in the US, your best bet is to go to AT&T or T-Mobile. The nation's biggest wireless carrier, Verizon Wireless, has not announced any plans to offer any of the new Windows Phone products from Nokia, HTC or Samsung on its service and neither has the nation's third largest wireless carrier Sprint.

In a chat at PCWorld.com during CES 2012, Sprint's vice president of product realization David Owens said, "We have a Windows device in our lineup (the older HTC Arrive, released in March 2011) but honestly, it hasn't done well enough for us to jump back into the fire. We told Microsoft: You guys have to go build the enthusiasm for the product. We'll train our reps on why it's great...[but] the number-one reason the product was returned was the user experience."

Another Sprint executive, director of product development Lois Fagan, added, "We want to participate in the market, but we can't build that brand by (ourselves). We're cautiously optimistic, but [Windows Phone] just hasn't taken off."

Owens said that if Sprint does release a new Windows Phone-based device, it won't happen until at least the "August-September time period." In the meantime, Sprint is going to be releasing a lot of new Android-based smartphones, including some that will connect to Sprint's LTE network which won't launch until later in 2012.