OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) – Sprint Nextel plans to sell Palm's Pixi, a lighter and cheaper version of the Palm Pre, beginning Nov. 15.

The nation's third-largest wireless company said the Sprint-only device will cost $99.99 with a two-year contract after $150 in rebates.

Sprint Nextel Corp. began selling the Pre smartphone in June. The company currently sells it for $150 after rebates and a two-year contract. Neither Sprint nor Palm Inc. has released specific sales numbers, and analyst opinions have been mixed on how well the device has sold.

The Pixi comes with a touchscreen, full Qwerty keyboard and Palm's latest operating system, WebOS. It will also have 8 gigabytes of built-in memory and a 2-megapixel camera.

Meanwhile, Sprint has launched Sprint 4G mobile broadband throughout the Philadelphia area.

In addition to Philadelphia, Sprint also launched 4G service recently in the Texas cities of Abilene, Killeen-Temple, Corpus Christi, Waco, Wichita Falls, Amarillo and Midland-Odessa. These follow 4G launches earlier this year in Atlanta; Las Vegas; Portland, Ore.; Bellingham, Wash.; and Boise, Idaho. Sprint plans to deploy Sprint 4G service in these additional markets in 2009: Chicago; Dallas-Ft. Worth, San Antonio and Austin, Texas; Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh, N.C.; Honolulu and Maui, Hawaii; Salem, Ore.; and Seattle.

In 2010, Sprint expects to launch service in multiple markets, including Boston, Houston, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

– CED’s Traci Patterson contributed to this report