Chetan Sharma at GigaOM has put together an article explicating the current divide between EV-DO and WCDMA. It finds, unsurprisingly, that EV-DO is currently “ahead by a mile.”
According to the piece, EV-DO coverage is bordering national availability, while Cingular only blankets 52 major markets across 28 states, which equates to just 50% of the market. It also finds that there are currently 15 EV-DO handsets available, in contrast to just four UMTS/HSDPA handsets coming from Cingular.
Given all of that, statistic projections show that EV-DO will likely maintain a dominate market share until at least 2010. Not too surprising I guess.
Since it was the only real choice for a long time, and for many continues to be the only real choice, it’s no surprise that EV-DO will hold a significant lead. It blasts past EDGE in a way that isn’t even funny.
I’ve been using a HSDPA on a Samsung Blackjack for the past week or so and I can say the divide is definitely closing, but as the article states, coverage is low. Surprisingly, Chicago seems to have better HSDPA coverage than New York. Not sure what’s up with that.
EV-DO vs WCDMA: Who’s ahead? [GigaOM]