In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Dan Schulman of Sprint has conceded what everyone knows, that the Palm Pre has failed to live up to expectations. Sprint CFO Robert Brust says that his company would “love” to carry the iPhone, but unfortunately, there is no contract in place to do so. Brust’s statement should dispel the notion that the 10 million CDMA iPhones that Apple has allegedly ordered are going anywhere near Sprint, yet Verizon iPhone rumors persist despite Ivan Seidenberg’s (Verizon CEO) statement that he did not know whether his company was getting the coveted phone. If the Chief of Verizon is unaware, how do these reporters know?

As reason for the phone’s floundering, Schulman blames supply shortages at the Pre’s release. Sprint is the country’s 3rd leading carrier and has the enticement of WiMAX 4G, which no one else in the world can match yet. The HTC Evo 4G is probably the most eagerly anticipated smartphone not branded by Apple and should boost Sprint’s profile despite WiMAX’s expense.