Clearwire (NSDQ: CLWR) is launching its WiMax service in the greater Seattle area tomorrow, putting it slightly ahead of its goal of reaching 30 million people by the end of the year, according to CEO Bill Morrow, who spoke to mocoNews ahead of the launch.

It was exactly three years ago in November when Clearwire launched its first wireless broadband service in Seattle, and celebrated by hosting a laser light show from the top of the Space Needle. At the time, the roll-out represented the biggest geographic area the company had launched during its three-year existence. With today’s launch of the official WiMax service, the Seattle market will see much faster download speeds, increasing from about 1 mbps to about 4 to 6 mbps with bursts in the low teens. In a drive test around Clearwire’s headquarters in Kirkland, Wash., company officials routinely clocked speeds at around 7 mbps, but sometimes as low as 1 megabyte – giving the impression that WiMax is much like cellphone service—the quality depends on where you are when you are using it. Still, speeds were consistent enough to make VoIP calls using Skype and to stream popular videos services, like SlingBox, Hulu and YouTube.

After the jump, more details on the launch and excerpts from an interview with Morrow, who talks about the chances of the company forming more partnerships and the timing of potential phones on its network.

The coverage area: The territory is massive and stretches from Tacoma to Bellingham (about 120 miles) and from the Puget Sound to Issaquah (17 miles). The service will be sold by both Clearwire and Sprint (NYSE: S), which owns about half of the company. Various pricing plans will be available and Sprint is offering consumers monthly data plans for $70 a month, which includes both Clearwire’s 4G service and Sprint’s 3G wireless service. For comparison, a standalone 3G wireless modem costs $60 a month.

Q: Clearwire has formed partnerships with Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), BrightHouse and Google (NSDQ: GOOG), and now there’s rumors of the company partnering with Clearwire or T-Mobile. Is there any chance of that?

Morrow: “We are a growing family, and we are very friendly; you might call us an extrovert.” He said they have architected the network, so that it is capable of handling very large capacities at far lower price structures than typical wireless operators. Because of that, they can have many partners. “We are talking to all of them. We are talking to carriers, cable operators, phone [landline] companies and satellite. We welcome everyone on…It’s good for Clearwire.”

Q: Are they likely to invest in Clearwire like the previous partners?

Morrow: “It doesn’t mean they have to invest. It can be a commercial wholesale partnership.”

Q: The company is currently offering WiMax modems for the home and laptop dongles for the road, among other items, but when will Clearwire start offering phones?

Morrow: The first stage of the business model is to target laptops with data cards, the second stage is the PDA/smartphone market, which will happen around the second-half of next year. “I wouldn’t count on it by summer, but before Christmas.” He said it takes four to five years from when a technology is standardized to when it fully matures and there’s a maturity of devices. Morrow points out that WiMax will hit its three-and-a-half to four-year window next year, unlike LTE, which said just completed the standard. Verizon intends on rolling out its network using that technology next year, but it’s unclear when it may launch phones or other devices.