Sprint First To Offer Treo 700p

Sprint jumped to be the first to offer the new Treo 700p, announcing Tuesday that the Palm OS-based PDA will be available for $399 in Sprint stores and Sprint business channels by the end of the month.

While the Treo model offers many new features, its chief attraction is likely to be its capability of being used as a phone-as-modem with near-broadband speeds of 400-700 kbps (with peak speeds up to 2Mbps).

The new Treo smartphone will be available for purchase on Sprint's Web site.

Announced Monday, the Treo 700p will also be used by Verizon Wireless. Both mobile phone service providers use the 1xEV-DO wireless infrastructure developed by Qualcomm.

Sprint said it believes it will be the sole wireless carrier to offer live TV on the device. It expects its Sprint Power Vision Network will reach some 190 million people by year's end.