Pittsburgh

Sprint Nextel Corp. is making a big push to help customers understand their phones, creating a formal program to make store employees available to explain their products and set them up for buyers.

The campaign to be announced Tuesday is the first official program for in-person help by a cell carrier, but is similar to moves in the wider consumer electronics industry to demystify gadgets through one-on-one contact.

The online social networking trend seems destined to get together somehow with the handheld, GPS-equipped device.

Gather.com founder and Bethel Park native Tom Gerace envisions this. He's mapped out a relationship, in fact.

By year's end, Gerace said his Boston-based networking site will allow owners of the upcoming iPhone 3G to share their locations with friends, former co-workers -- anyone with whom they keep in touch -- via the phone's global positioning system feature. Apple will start selling its latest iPhone July 11.