Despite expectations, Sprint didn’t launch its WiMAX network at the industry’s largest wireless event

LAS VEGAS--The last slide of Sprint CEO Dan Hesse’s presentation spelled it: “Coming Soon.” Xohm would not be making its official launch at CTIA Wireless this year.

Though today was officially the first day of the second quarter, in which Sprint promised to commercially launch its WiMAX network in a handful of markets, Hesse didn’t use the keynote podium or the spectacle of CTIA to unveil the country’s first 4G network. In fact, he didn’t give so much as an update on the progress of the much-touted network, showing only a promotional video on WiMAX’s capabilities and saying the launch was around the corner.

What Hesse did do was unveil a new, exclusive Samsung phone, the user interface of which Sprint and Samsung designed together. The device, called the Instinct, is clearly intended to tap into the iPhone’s popularity. The flat touch-screen device even resembles the iconic Apple device, substituting only squared-off corners for the iPhone’s rounded ones. The Instinct even one-ups the iPhone’s navigation by using haptic feedback technology on the touch screen, delivering a pulsing buzz every time a softkey on the phone is touched. The user interfaces of the devices are completely different, though. Sprint and Samsung took pains to link together every application on the closed-off operating system. For instance, a business address embedded in email or SMS can immediately trigger the GPS navigation function of the phone.

Hesse also reiterated that Sprint would launch DirectConnect push-to-talk services over the CDMA EV-DO Revision A network this quarter, and showed off some of the planned advertising for the launch, but otherwise his keynote was short on new information. Sprint soft-launched WiMAX networks in Chicago, Washington and Baltimore just as 2007 wound to a close, using Motorola and Samsung gear. But the trial services were open only to Sprint employees, and the operator hasn’t revealed the extent of the rollout in any of those three markets.

Behind the scenes, though, work appears to be proceeding on the WiMAX rollout. Nokia Siemens Networks revealed on Monday that it is supplying its Subscriber Data Management platform for the WiMAX network, a database that tracks subscriber information in real time and will likely be used to manage the multiple connections individual users are expected to have on their Xohm accounts. Core gateway maker Starent, which the day before announced its break into the GSM/UMTS market, added a WiMAX customer to its portfolio, revealing that it is supplying its ST40 roaming gateway to anchor individual subscribers’ Internet connections as they roam through the network.

Meanwhile, on the device side, Nokia is expected to show off its first WiMAX device this afternoon--what is essentially its N800 Internet Tablet, expect to be embedded with a WiMAX chip instead of WiFi.