Emerging Consumer and Business Device Leadership Enables AT&T to Mobilize Everything for Customers: eReaders, Tracking Devices, Photo Frames, and More. AT&T Supports More than 1,000 Wireless Specialty Devices: Solidifies Leadership in Wirelessly Connecting eReaders, Netbooks, Personal Navigation Devices, Other Consumer Electronics.
AT&T, the US’ fastest mobile broadband network, announced more than 7 million connected devices have been added to the AT&T network in the past six quarters.
The total first quarter emerging devices growth, which includes 1.3 million connected devices as well as embedded computing devices, was 1.6 million. Embedded computing devices include tablets, netbooks and laptops, and are included in either the company’s postpaid or prepaid subscriber categories.
The total number of emerging devices, including postpaid and prepaid embedded computing devices, connected to the AT&T network – both for consumers and businesses – exceeds 12 million.
AT&T has certified more than 1,000 wireless specialty consumer and machine-to-machine devices – such as eReaders, netbooks, digital photo frames, personal navigation devices, and home security monitoring and smart grid devices – for use on its wireless network. AT&T opened a dedicated emerging device certification lab in Austin in September 2009 to serve as the hub for testing network compatibility, data performance and audio quality for a broad range of non-traditional, wirelessly-enabled devices. The lab also manages field tests for these devices in markets across the country.
In addition to an already leading portfolio of emerging and connected devices, AT&T has announced plans this year to support several new devices, including:
- AT&T announced an agreement with Ford Motor Company to wirelessly connect the Ford Focus Electric, Ford’s first all-electric passenger car. Announced in January at the 2011 International CES, the new Focus Electric enters production at the Michigan Assembly Plant in late 2011.
- AT&T will provide the nationwide network connection for Acer’s first 4G tablet, the Acer Iconia Tab A501, beginning this summer. The 10 inch Acer Iconia Tab A501 will feature the Android 3.0 operating system with Android Marketplace, and an NVIDIA Tegra 250 1GHz dual core processor with integrated graphics for the fastest HD gaming, web and multimedia experience.
- During CTIA, AT&T announced an agreement to provide wireless connectivity for the BlueLibris personal monitoring device. The BlueLibris small wearable device allows real-time communication with an adult or child wearing the device through call-center capability. BlueLibris plans to add, subject to any required regulatory approval, near real time monitoring of patient physical activity and physical information collected from other peripheral devices.
- AT&T and Georgia-based startup E3 Greentech announced at CTIA 2011 an agreement to provide wireless access to a central unit, the E3 Intelligent Bridge located in the home, to help homeowners and property managers optimize their energy use by automatically reducing energy waste.
- AT&T will wirelessly connect EmFinder’s EmSeeQ® device, a single purpose wireless device that upon activation dials 911 and reports its location directly to emergency responders. The EmSeeQ is useful for individuals with medical impairments that make them prone to wandering, including those with autism, Down syndrome or Alzheimer’s disease. It can only be activated by the EmFinders operation center at the request of the caregiver.
The AT&T wireless network enables consumers and business customers access to a range of new, innovative solutions and applications that help make their lives and workplaces more efficient and productive. The AT&T emerging devices portfolio includes consumer electronics devices, rugged handsets and laptops for industrial environments. In addition, AT&T’s machine-to-machine applications help enterprises and governments to track, monitor, maintain and manage their remote assets to optimize asset utilization and mobilize their business processes.
“For emerging devices, AT&T remains the network of choice by committing to collaborate with consumer electronics manufacturers in the emerging devices ecosystem in order to drive innovation and growth,” said Glenn Lurie, president of emerging devices, resale and partnerships, AT&T. “We’ve developed the infrastructure to help electronic manufacturers quickly bring their products to market, creating new business models, offering new pricing structures for customers who purchase emerging devices, and continually expanding our mobile network capabilities to support the long-term growth of these devices.”
AT&T created its emerging devices organization in 2008 and has emerged as the clear industry leader in one of the wireless industry’s fastest growing areas. Recognizing the growing demand for emerging device solutions in the enterprise market, AT&T also formed the Advanced Mobility Solutions Group in May 2010. The group delivers advanced mobile applications and solutions for both traditional and emerging devices to businesses, governments and organizations of all sizes.
“We see accelerating interest in mobile-driven business transformation, leveraging both machine-to-machine and mobile applications solutions for core business process evolution across all industries,” said Chris Hill, Vice President, Advanced Mobility Solutions. “In the past quarter we have seen significant demand for our mobile integrator services, including global M2M solutions, as well as delivering configured mobile applications to transform our customer businesses.”
