Sprint CEO Says Android Not Good Enough for His Logo. Bitter Much?

by Paul Glazowski

Something tells me Sprint CEO Dan Hesse is a little bitter about his company getting passed by the #4 wireless telecom operator to become debut provider of an Android-based handset that the world has seen so far.

Being a lossy network at #3 might have something to do with it. According to Sinead Carew of Reuters, Hesse was quoted as telling the National Press Club that the Android open source operating system is not “good enough to put the Sprint brand on it.”

Not to be a stickler for accuracy, but I don’t believe Sprint could technically brand Android as its own. The carrier might affix its logo to a device installed with the operating system, and might deliver the device custom crafted to appeal to Sprint users and the various mobile broadband-enabled services offered by the company. But the Sprint brand on Android? No, I don’t think so. That sort of defeats the purpose of the so-called Open Handset Alliance, in one way or another.

Be that as it may, Hesse vowed to release an Android-equipped phone “some time in the future.” Which of course will happen. The company would be quite foolish to not pursue at least a few devices with the software installed. I imagine that future being one with most all carriers providing handsets featuring the major software options of the day. For example, T-Mobile will eventually support the iPhone. It may take a few years, but there eventually comes a time where user demand gets its time in the sun. It’s unfortunate that it is taking this long to do, but such is the way of the corporate world. Consumer desires continually outpace the production schedules of Apple, Google, Microsoft, Nokia, and other warehouses.

There are only two possible conclusions one can make from Hesse’s statement made before the NPC. The first is as I explained from the start: he’s bitter about not being first up to bat. The other: he’s borderline delusional and has managed to ignore all critical reviews of the now-public OS, which frequently regard the software as a serious second-place finisher to the thoroughly elegant and arguably more refined iPhone platform. Door #1, folks. Door #1.

Original here