MVNO FreedomPop to launch WiMAX iPod touch case, details pricing

MVNO FreedomPop said it will start selling a $99 WiMAX sleeve for Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPod touch, and also revealed more details about its pricing for its freemium mobile broadband service.

FreedomPop iPod touch wimax case

Click here for a video of FreedomPop's new iPod touch case.

The company, which earlier this month announced that it will resell service on Sprint Nextel's (NYSE:S) CDMA and LTE networks by year-end, said the iPod Sleeve works similarly to the case for the iPhone 4/4S that it began taking orders for in May. The sleeve turns the iPod touch into a mobile hotspot and, with the help of a VoIP client, it can make voice calls like an iPhone. FreedomPop's service currently is slated to run over Clearwire's (NASDAQ:CLWR) WiMAX network.

FreedomPop--a 2012 Fierce 15 winner--is finally starting to give a little more detail on its plans. The company will give customers 500 MB of free data per month, with the ability to get an extra 10 MB for each friend they sign up for the service, for a total of up to 1 GB of free data. Customers can also pay overage charges of 1 cent per MB, or $10 per GB, beyond that. 

FreedomPop also said it will allow heavier data users to earn up to 5 GB free by engaging in unspecified "partner offers and promotions." The company will let all friends share capacity or request capacity from each other, and said additional friend functionality such as location, online presence and even free voice calls will be added over time.

FreedomPop COO Steven Sesar told AllThingsD that the company will have prepaid data plans for users who want more data per month at significant discounts compared to those at larger carriers. Tony Miller, FreedomPop's vice president of marketing, told TechCrunch that the company's offerings will be 20 to 50 percent cheaper than similar data buckets from Tier 1 carriers.

It is still unclear when the company will launch commercial service, though it said the iPhone cases will begin shipping later this summer. "We are looking at about a two-month deadline," Sesar said. "We don't have a specific launch (date)."

One aspect of the service that is likely still evolving is what kind of value-added services customers will pay for to make FreedomPop's freemium model work. Previous reports have indicated that one such service will be VoIP.

For more:
- see this release
- see this TechCrunch article
- see this GigaOM article
- see this AllThingsD article

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FreedomPop to offer 1 GB of free data via WiMAX-enabled iPhone case