Clearwire targets Apple products

Looking to take advantage of the mania surrounding anything produced by Apple Inc. (AAPL), Clearwire Corp. (CLWR) today unveiled its iSpot mobile hot spot product with dedicated support for Apple’s line of mobile devices, including the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. (Clearwire went out of its way to acknowledge that Apple in no way endorses its products.)
The device, which will be available beginning Aug. 10 for $100 (or for $30 if ordered today), allows for up to eight Wi-Fi enabled Apple products to backhaul data services using Clearwire’s WiMAX network. (The carrier offers other “Spot” devices for non-Apple products.)
Rate plans for the device run $25 per month for unlimited access at network speeds up to 6 megabits per second on the downlink and 1 Mbps on the uplink. No contract is required for the service and the WiMAX service is currently available in 49 markets following the recent launch of five new markets this week. Clearwire has said it plans to cover 120 million pops with its WiMAX network by the end of the year.
Clearwire’s management earlier this year showed a video of Apple’s products running through one of its mobile hot spot devices providing faster data speeds in a mobile environment compared with an iPhone running on AT&T Mobility’s 3G network.