Sprint MVNO Ting to add Windows Phones to lineup

Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) MVNO Ting said it plans to add Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phone 8 smartphones to its lineup later this year, following Sprint's embrace of the platform.

The MVNO did not indicate which devices it will launch but noted that Sprint has committed to bringing devices to market from HTC and Samsung Electronics.

"We mentioned that we hoped to have the latest Windows Phone devices around the same time Sprint begins offering them," Ting's Andrew Moore-Crispin wrote in a company blog post about Ting's larger expansion of its device lineup, which now includes the Samsung Nexus S. "Thanks to some hardball negotiation tactics such as asking nicely, we'll be able to start shipping these devices within four to six weeks of the time Sprint puts them up for sale. Expect to see those in May or June."

Sprint has said it will launch the Windows Phone devices by the summer, but has not given any more details than yet. The Ting blog post indicates that Sprint will launch the gadgets in the late spring, likely in May.

The addition of a U.S. MVNO, however small, to the roster of carrier supporting Windows Phone should be welcome news for Microsoft. Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ), AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) and T-Mobile USA have come to the fore recently with stronger support for Windows Phone, with Verizon adding its muscle in the fourth quarter. Sprint has only launched one Windows Phone, the HTC Arrive, in 2011. 

U.S. Cellular (NYSE:USM) has also voiced support for Windows Phone 8, but has not said when it will launch Microsoft devices.  

For more:
- see this Ting blog post

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