While speaking at Fortunes Brainstorm: Tech event in Pasadena on Friday, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse apparently got all kinds of verbal when it came to Android and his carrier. The honcho (and TV commercial star) remarked at the industry conference that he was "Glad we waited on Android," adding "The reviews say now its ready for prime time. It wasnt when it first came out." While we knew Sprint had interest in Android phones (and potentially some forthcoming models), we hadnt heard a peep about timeframes, and the last thing Dan had to say was that he thought Googlephones werent quite ready for prime-time. Thats all changed now with the appearance of Android 1.5, it seems, as Hesse stated that the carrier will ship at least one model with the OS onboard this year. We dont want to be zany conspiracy theorists, but the timing of this seems to dovetail nicely with the very public launch of HTCs heavily modified Hero and Sense UI... a device which has been rumored to be making its way to Sprint sometime this year. The carrier obviously has a storied history of partnering with HTC on phones, so it wouldnt come as a surprise to see it land on Sprint (we certainly havent seen any other carriers pipe up). Regardless, it looks like Sprint wont be putting all of its eggs in the Palm basket for long. Its going to be a very interesting holiday season.
