Sprint announced the Samsung Instinct 3G touchscreen smartphone last week. One of the striking features is Visual Voicemail. I was a bit surprised that Sprint calls the voicemail management feature the same as Apple on the iPhone.

Interestingly Sprint made a deal with Klausner Technologies to license Visual Voicemail, which the company claims to have patents for. Klausner Technologies already sued Apple and AT&T over the iPhone Visual Voicemail back in December 2007 and again in March 2008.

It will be interesting how this patent infringement lawsuit will turn out for Apple.
Via Dow Jones on CNN Money and Information Week.

The Samsung Instinct will be released in June. There is no pricing information yet, but it is expected to be priced cheaper than the iPhone. On the other hand prices can change very quickly. T-Mobile in Germany slashed the iPhone price from 399 Euro to 99 Euro starting next week.
Sprint also launched a dedictated site to promote the Samsung Instinct.