LG LS680 with Android pops up on Sprint's system
Shortly after the rumors surrounding the Sprint and LG event at CES just days away, we were greeted with this little screen shot in our inbox this morning. It looks like Sprint will be getting a LG Android handset pretty soon …
Context & Ripple Effects
Sprint spent late 2009 anchoring its smartphone story on a single exclusive: the webOS-powered Palm Pre, whose carrier exclusivity Sprint confirmed as recently as September, even as the operator quietly opened its developer program to Android that same month. A leaked system screenshot showing the LG LS680 surfacing in Sprint's inventory, days ahead of the rumored Sprint-LG appearance at CES, suggests that one-flagship posture is about to widen.
The LG-Sprint relationship until now has run through feature phones — the complaint-plagued LG Rumor drew user gripes back in January 2008 — so an Android handset appearing inside Sprint's own systems represents a step up in the partnership, and timing it against the CES rumor mill is classic pre-launch positioning.
First-order effects
- LG gains a likely national-carrier slot for its Android hardware push, announced via Sprint's own inventory systems rather than a formal product unveiling.
- Sprint's lineup diversifies beyond the Palm Pre exclusivity it has defended all year, matching its September developer-outreach to actual Android retail hardware.
Second-order effects
- Rival carriers building their own 2010 Android rosters now compete with LG across more than one national distribution channel heading into CES.
- Palm's negotiating position weakens as its exclusive carrier shows a roadmap that no longer rests solely on the Pre.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, carrier portfolios shift from single-OS flagship exclusives — the defining deal shape of 2009 smartphone launches — toward multi-vendor Android lineups, diluting the leverage any one OS vendor holds over a network operator.
The trend: US carriers are trading single-device OS bets like Sprint's Palm Pre exclusivity for multi-vendor Android lineups, with vendors such as LG seeding those shelves through CES-season leaks.