Why Does Sasktel Still Hate Android

In a previous blog entry I pondered why Sasktel was apparently one of the last cell carriers (MTS being the other) not to offer Smartphones running Android.  In one of the comments to that entry the commenter said that Sasktel couldn't offer Android phones because of operating a CDMA network at the time.  Despite mentioning in the blog entry multiple times about the CDMA Android phones offered in the United States by Verizon and Sprint. 

Since then Sasktel launched a new UMTS/HSPA network that will expand province wide and eventually will replace the older CDMA network.  With a new network come new phones and one of them is the Samsung Galaxy S which does run Android, but that's the only Android phone they sell.  Sasktel sells Blackberries for both UMTS and CDMA like they are going out of style (That's because Blackberries ARE going out of style) 

Even MTS that telco to the east that still is CDMA only offers more Android Smartphones than Sasktel does.  MTS offers the HTC 6250 and a CDMA version of Motorola's Milestone, the same one that Verizon calls the Droid.  Not bad for a network "the couldn't support Android"

It's not just a surprising lack of hardware running Android that shows that the telco that believes that Saskatchewan is some kind of magic kingdom has some kind of chip on their shoulder towards Google and their smartphone operating system.  Mobile Apps from Sasktel for looking up phone numbers are available for Blackberry and oddly enough the iPhone considering that Sasktel hasn't been able to sell iPhones because Apple won't sign a distribution deal with Sasktel which isn't expected to change anytime soon.

As Saskatchewanians start looking for alternatives to their Blackberries as cellular service contracts expire, they will start to look for Android phones, iPhones, and even Windows Phone 7 handsets, to get those phones they will start looking for an alternative to Sasktel