AT&T said that it will launch five new devices
from Dell, HTC and Motorola based on the Android OS
The company
also announced at the AT&T Developer Summit in Las Vegas that is expanding its support to developers.
The exclusive Android phones will include a Motorola smartphone, powered by MOTOBLUR, with a unique form factor, Dell's first Android smartphone and an HTC smartphone.
Executives announced an
agreement with Qualcomm to standardize apps development for mid-range
Quick Messaging Devices using BREW Mobile Platform. They are offering a new AT&T SDK (software developer kit) to help developers immediately begin to develop apps for these devices.
There will be future
initiatives to enable developers to create more apps for AT&T's
U-verse TV, emerging consumer electronics devices, and businesses. The new AT&T Virtual Innovation Lab and two new Innovation Centers will help developers and spur apps development.
In
addition, AT&T announced its goal to lead the industry in
application choices for smartphone customers by offering all major app
stores. It will preload the corresponding store for each device --
giving customers convenient access to thousands of apps optimized for
their smartphone.
Today, AT&T added to existing agreements with
Nokia for Ovi store and Microsoft for Windows Marketplace by announcing
an agreement for Android Market. It expects to announce more app store
agreements in the near future and will offer carrier billing as an easy
and convenient payment option.
AT&T
Chief Marketing Officer David Christopher announced plans to begin
rolling out Quick Messaging Devices with BREW Mobile Platform in the
second half of the year, so that by year end 2011, about 90 percent of
AT&T's devices in this segment are planned to be based on BREW
Mobile Platform. AT&T announced that Samsung will be its first
device maker to launch a Quick Messaging Device featuring BREW Mobile
Platform. HTC, LG and Pantech also are building devices featuring BREW
Mobile Platform for planned availability in late 2010 or early 2011.
To
help developers jumpstart apps development for AT&T's BREW Mobile
Platform devices, Christopher announced a new AT&T SDK which
features support for BREW Mobile Platform, continued support for Java
and widgets, and includes tools to help developers tap into AT&T
network capabilities as they design and code their applications.
The
new AT&T SDK is available starting today at sdk.developer.att.com.
AT&T
has a longstanding commitment to the developer community. It was among
the first major carriers to offer a developer program and has been
rated the top carrier development program for the past three years by
Evans Data. Today, AT&T executives also announced plans, including
some launch schedules, for a series of new or enhanced developer
resources including:
- Technical support
for developers via live chat -- something no other carrier, operating
system provider or handset maker offers today - and a tripling of
overall tech support by mid-2010. - Revenue share featuring a standardized 70/30 split for third-party developers in the AT&T App Center.
- AT&T Sandbox, a virtual network environment for developers to test and evaluate applications, which is planned to be available in 2Q 2010.
- AT&T Developer Dashboard,
a tool that will let developers track the status of their app once
submitted to AT&T, support digital signing of business agreements
with AT&T, allow developers to set prices for their apps, and
provide performance metrics and customer satisfaction feedback. The
dashboard is available now for enterprise application developers and
the certification of emerging devices. And for AT&T's consumer
development community, the dashboard will also provide needed
automation which is planned for the first quarter of 2010. - AT&T Developer Council,
an advisory group hosted by AT&T and made up of leading development
and technology companies and other influencers, such as EA Games,
Telenav and Bonfire Media.
AT&T
also announced a trial program with WaveMarket to make network location
information accessible through Veriplace, WaveMarket's cloud location
aggregation platform currently in use by more than 1,000 developers.
Veriplace allows SMS, Web, WAP and IVR developers to develop
location-aware apps and services across device categories and
participating carriers. The trial program will launch in the coming
weeks.
AT&T Chief
Technology Officer John Donovan also said that a new AT&T Virtual
Innovation Lab will open in Atlanta in the second quarter to provide
developer support for speech, location and messaging APIs (application
programming interfaces). In addition, two new Innovation Centers, one
in the East and one in the West, are planned for late 2010 to provide
3G and 4G RF (radio frequency) development support, testing and demos.