HTC EVO 4G Sets Sprint Sales Records

In fact, Sprint sold more HTC EVO 4G devices last Friday than the number of Instincts and Pres sold over the first three days of their respective launches combined.

"HTC EVO 4G is a clear winner for customers with the powerful combination of an amazing multimedia experience in 3G coverage areas that becomes even better in our growing number of 4G markets. It is terrific to see customers react so positively to this device and the innovative experience it brings to them," said Dan Hesse, Sprint CEO, in a statement.

Thousands of customers lined up for hours before Sprint stores opened on Friday, according to Sprint. It’s rare when a company actually touts the fact that it ran into temporary shortages of a new product, but Sprint does so in a press release issued Monday. The phones went on sale at 22,000 locations in the United States, including Sprint retail stores, Best Buy, Wal-Mark and RadioShack.

“Sprint and HTC are diligently working around the clock to increase inventory in all sales channels. Additional shipments are arriving in retail stores on a regular basis with many stores seeing daily deliveries,” the company wrote in the release.

Kevin Packingham, senior vice president of product development, noted that the HTC EVO 4G, “has more than lived up to our expectations that it would be one of the most anticipated technology products of the year.”

The EVO 4G includes a 4.3-inch screen, 1GHz processor, 8MP HD video camera, 1.3MP still camera, HDMI output jack, simultaneous voice and data capability in 4G or Wi-Fi and a built-in mobile hotspot for up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices, according to Sprint.

Sprint offers 4G service, which it claims has 10x download speeds of 3G, in 33 markets, many of them smaller cities:

Georgia - Atlanta, Milledgeville; Hawaii - Honolulu, Maui; Idaho - Boise; Illinois - Chicago; Maryland - Baltimore; Missouri - Kansas City; Nevada - Las Vegas; North Carolina - Charlotte, Greensboro, (along with High Point and Winston-Salem), Raleigh (along with Cary, Chapel Hill and Durham); Oregon - Portland, Salem; Pennsylvania - Harrisburg, Lancaster, Philadelphia, Reading, York; Texas - Abilene, Amarillo, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston, Killeen/Temple, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, San Antonio, Waco, Wichita Falls; Washington - Bellingham, Seattle.

Sprint expects to launch 4G service this year in Boston, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, St. Louis and Washington, D.C.