The Consumer Electronics Show, known to industry folks as CES, is fast approaching and in the past the event has been widely used as a launch pad for big product and service announcements. Judging by some cryptic hints from T-Mobile and HTC, this year won’t be any different.
T-Mobile CEO John Legere sent out a tweet on Tuesday asking his 3.4 million followers if they’re “ready for #UncarrierNEXT” along with a photo bearing the date January 5, 2017. That, of course, is the opening day of CES, meaning the Un-carrier isn’t planning to be overshadowed by subsequent announcements at the show.
No word yet on what the announcement will include, though one Legere follower speculated it might be unlimited social media and aRedditor conjectured that the “NEXT” in the announcement referred to a confirmed merger between Sprint (NEXTel) and the Un-carrier.Rumor also has it the show will be home to several device announcements from Sony, LG, BlackBerry’s partner TCL, and maybe even Samsung, but that doesn’t mean those will have any bearing on the T-Mo reveal.
Speaking of handset vendors, it seems HTC is looking to bask in the afterglow of CES (which ends January 8) with a big reveal of its own on January 12.
The company on Tuesday sent out save the date cards, with the only hint being the words “for U.” When asked, a spokesman declined to give any hints, so we’ll just have to wait and see what that’s about.