If you were hoping to swing into a Sprint store early Friday morning and grab an EVO 4G LTE on your way to work then you’ll not like this next bit of news.  The HTC smartphone will not make its May 18 launch date, thanks to an International Trade Commission (ITC) investigation.  A post in the carrier’s forum advises that Sprint’s new flagship handset should be in compliance with a recent ITC exclusion order and that it should pass through Customs in due time.

Those of you who have already pre-ordered your EVO 4G LTE have three options at this point: wait until it arrives, choose an alternate product or cancel your order.  Whereas Sprint would prefer you don’t opt to cancel, they indicate that the process should be relatively painless.

• HTC EVO 4G LTE availability | The U.S. availability of the HTC EVO 4G LTE has been delayed.  HTC is working to resolve this issue and appreciates your patience as they work to get products into Sprint channels. We can’t provide specific timing for product availability at this time and we appreciate your patience as HTC works to get products on store shelves as soon as possible.
•  Pre-order status/availability | Delivery of products for pre-order are on hold and Sprint will provide a ship date as soon as possible. Sprint will maintain the promise for the preorder customers that they will be among the first to receive their HTC EVO 4G LTE units.