For AT&T, 2010 will be all about Android and Palm’s WebOS– at least that’s the impression one’s left with after the company’s CES event this morning which featured a lot of talk about devices based on those operating systems and little mention of Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone, which has overstuffed the company’s wallet almost as obscenely as it has its network. Evidently AT&T (T) thought it best not to mention the iconic super-smartphone too much, lest its executives be driven offstage by a mob of iPhone users complaining of dropped calls, lousy service, delayed text and voice messages and testudine download speeds.
Anyway, as I was saying … AT&T said it would be adding two as of yet undisclosed Palm (PALM) WebOS phones to its line-up this year, as well as five Android devices. Among the latter, a mysterious new HTC phone (hmm … wonder what that could be …) and Dell’s Mini 3 — a device that shares the same basic design as the smarphones Dell (DELL) already sells in China. Oh, and the company has adopted an “Apps for All” strategy that will see it supporting not just the iPhone App Store, but Palm’s App Catalog, the Android, Windows Marketplace and Nokia’s (NOK) Ovi Store
So, AT&T is adding five new data-guzzling “Superphones” to its 2010 line-up, along with 4 new app storefronts. How does it propose to handle the resulting data demands considering the difficulties it’s had supporting the iPhone? Said AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega, “How is our network going to support this growth? We’re continuing to add thousands of new cell sites and backhaul connections and preparing for the move to LTE. We’re confident that our industry leading investments and upgrades will help us maintain our position as the nation’s fastest 3G network.”
Whatever you say Ralph.
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