A week after rival Verizon Wireless announced its plans to offer a personal Wi-Fi device, Sprint says that its ready to launch its own "Mobile Hotspot" gadget, a portable unit that creates a localized Wi-Fi cloud to share high-speed Internet with wireless electronics like laptops, netbooks, cameras and music players.

Small enough to fit in a pocket and no larger than the thickness of three credit cards, the Mobile Hotspot connects to Sprint's 3G data network to deliver high-speed Internet access to up to five Wi-Fi-enabled gadgets.

The built-in battery provides up to four hours of runtime, or 40 hours of standby on a single charge.

The Sprint Mobile Hotspot will cost $100 after a $50 mail-in rebate, bundled with a new two-year service plan.