The official developer portal for US carrier Sprint has today announced that the HTC Hero will be the first Android device to run on the Sprint network.

The HTC Hero has for a long time been rumored to appear on the Sprint network, with reports last month that the handset was being tested internally at the wireless carrier.

Update: Sprint have now officially confirmed that the HTC Hero will be available from October 11th priced at $179 with a $100 mail-in rebate and a two-year Simply Everything plan.

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The brief announcement posted on the Sprint developer site also informs readers that the dev program plan to launch an Android development section by the end of September, along with a direct link to download the Android 1.5 SDK.

This section provides access to tools, SDKs, developer documentation, sample source code, and technical How-To’s for building Android applications targeting Android powered devices available through Sprint.
Overview

Announcing the HTC Hero, which will be the first Android device running on the Sprint network.

By the end of September, the Sprint developer program will deploy an Android development section that will highlight some resources, value added services applicable to all android developers. FYI, you start developing now by downloading the Android 1.5 SDK

Register to attend our upcoming 2009 Open Developer Conference, where Sprint and our ecosystem partners including HTC will be talking Android:
- Technical overview sessions on Oct 26
- Android hands on coding labs the evening of Oct 26

Oh, BTW we have some BIG announcements coming by the end of the month that will be of great interest to all android developers…we promise it won’t disappoint.

The HTC Hero will be Sprint’s first Android powered handset to launch on the network.

[via developer.sprint.com + Engadget.com]

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