ZTE Peel Case: iPhone Finally Comes to Sprint…Sort Of…

The case of the ZTE Peel Case for U.S. CDMA carrier presents an interesting proposition for onlookers of Apple’s iPhone but reluctant to commit either to AT&T or a two-year contract. With the ZTE Peel, a case with an integrated CDMA radio, owners of Apple’s iPod Touch–which has been described as an iPhone without the phone feature–could enjoy mobile broadband data access without having to worry about AT&T’s network issues nor a long-term contract.

The ZTE Peel case wraps around the slip iPod Touch and offers a $30 per month, month-to-month contract-free data plan through Sprint’s Now Network. The price will net you 1 GB of data per month with $0.05 per MB for overages. The ZTE Peel Case will retail for $80 and is expected in Sprint stores beginning November 14th, according to a leaked document obtained by BGR.

The ZTE Peel will be compatible with the second and third generation iPod Touch devices, but not the current fourth generation due to different location placement of the camera and different back design. The neat part about the ZTE Peel is that it will allow users to also tether a second nearby device, serving as sort of a MiFi-like hotspot device so you can share your mobile broadband connection between the iPod Touch and a nearby laptop or other device.

Sprint hasn’t been a seller of Apple products in the past, but the company has attempted to capitalize off of the success of Apple products. It had featured an iPhone using the 3G Sprint network with the MiFi in a commercial in the past and had marketed the Overdrive for use with the iPad as well.