Sprint Bids Adieu to Windows Phone, For Now

Sprint has taken the HTC Arrive down from its online store leaving it without a Windows Phone device for sale as it heads into an unknown future with Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 platform.

WPCentral reports that the HTC Arrive, which last year became Sprint’s first and only Windows Phone device, has vanished from the carrier’s online store, just weeks after it received its End of Life status.

The device will apparently live on at a few physical retail locations through replacement orders but that will be the closest Sprint gets to selling a Windows Phone device for the time being.

Read: Nokia Windows Phone 8 Handset Headed to Verizon?

That is because Sprint, unlike its competitors, has not committed to selling a Windows Phone device powered by Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 software.

While AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and U.S. Cellular have all said that they will carry Windows Phone 8 hardware, Sprint remains out of the picture. At least for now.

There is a possibility that the carrier might relent and decide to join the Windows Phone 8 party but at the moment, its plans, if there are any, remain concealed.

It’s possible that Sprint could launch a phone later this year or in 2013 but as of yet, nothing has emerged indicating Sprint has plans to launch a second Windows Phone device.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25DKXGKblOw&feature=player_embedded

The HTC Arrive was a solid Windows Phone and it was unique in that it had a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, something that was rare with the original batch of Windows Phone devices.

So with a new 4G LTE network and new Windows Phone 8 devices on the way, Sprint will definitely have to take a look at the possibility of offering a new Windows Phone device, especially if its competitors have success.

Only time will tell.