WiMax has been competing for the status of next generation mobile technology, but has largely lost the battle to rival long-distance wireless standard Long-Term Evolution (LTE), an effort by the Third Generation Partnership Project vendor group to enhance Universal Mobile Telecommunications System mobile-phone networks. UMTS includes the CDMA and W-CDMA specifications used by AT&T and Verizon Wireless within the U.S.

 Sprint and Nextel are migrating their 3G networks WiMax network. Rivals Verizon Wireless and AT&T have announced they'll build their next-generation networks on LTE.

"We have ramped down the N810 WiMax Edition tablet. It has reached the end of its lifecycle," said a Nokia spokesman. Nokia unveiled the model only nine months ago, while usually even the most trendy models have a shelf life of well over a year.

Canada's Nortel Networks Corp. has said LTE will be the most likely upgrade path for about 80 percent of the world's existing mobile phone providers, with others going for WiMax.

Nokia did not rule out introducing further WiMax phones in the future.

"We will continue to follow the technology and its evolution," the spokesman said.

(Reporting by Tarmo Virki; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)

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