The MiFi portable multi-person wireless router that we first wrote about in December and joined a chorus of positive reviews for in June now allows outside developers to write network-leveraging applications for the battery powered device.

The company hopes that both business and consumer users, developers both novice and advanced, will build MiFi applications as part of the new developer program.

The device may not see an iPhone store's worth of apps, but software that's location, network and socially aware could enable some interesting small-group computing activities on the go. More traditional mobile internet solutions like one-person EVDO could quickly feel shockingly unsophisticated.

On the other hand, the MiFi's small group limitations and web-centric nature may make it a challenge for developers to really come up with a substantial number of exciting applications. None were showcased in the announcement of the API's availability.

A secure, collaborative, shared workspace with local access only by MiFi? That seems like the low hanging fruit. What else would you like to see running on a hotspot in your pocket?

It's a MiFi, Sprint's new wireless broadband device, and it's geek gadget magic that'll realistically fit in your wallet. Disclosure! Sprint gave us a MiFi device to test. We tested it for a couple weeks and sent it back. We were sad to see it go.

Sweetly simple and functional, the device easily accommodated the three users' surfing around. Multimedia uploads were as zippy as on a normal connection during the time we were test-driving the device.

Another test involved a crowded WiFi situation at a local coffee shop. Two laptops were connected to the device with the same lightning-fast results.

We even had time to literally road-test the MiFi; there's still something man-on-the-moon-ish about accessing the Internet from a moving car. We built a website during the course of a two-hour mini-road trip.

The battery held a charge for a good couple hours between charging, and the connection worked at ranges of 10-20 feet. We did notice a bit of trouble when using the device for long periods of time with just one device; every now and then, the card seemed to overheat and would drop the connection. A rest and reboot period solved the problem, but it would've been painful/disastrous had we not had access to a backup WiFi network in the meantime.

Still, the device is pretty amazing. We highly recommend seeing it in action:

Slight correction: The Sprint website states the device can support up to five devices.

Now, as previously disclosed, we received the free-as-in-beer, no-strings-attached version of the MiFi. We were not required to go through the new account/line activation process, any rebate loopholes, contract renegotiations, or other factors that make mobile services companies so uniquely pleasant (and by "pleasant," we mean "exquisitely tortuous in the BDSM sense"). The MiFi is advertised now at $99.99 per device, based on several conditions that seemed to require scientific calculators and gave us headaches. We recommend calling Sprint if you're interested in the device and finding out exactly how much the price would be for you. We're also aware of a similar Verizon device but have not yet been exposed to it, ourselves.

The pocket sized MiFi is capable of connecting users and devices

In addition to being a portable Internet hotspot, the EVDO blog notes that the MiFi has an onboard Linux processor capable of hosting software applications and additional content storage capabilities via MicroSD.

Novatel claims the internal battery will provide over forty hours standby and up to four hours of active use on a single charge, and that certain configurations will support applications like auto VPN, automatic syncing of e-mail and remote management capabilities.

The MiFi will be available in the first quarter of 2009 through a variety of retail outlets and Engadget reports the MiFi should be priced under $300.