CES: AT&T announces support for Android, Palm WebOS, all app stores

LAS VEGAS – AT&T (NYSE:T) became the last major US wireless carrier to jump on the Android bandwagon today, announcing plans for five new devices from Dell, HTC and Motorola based on the open-source operating system . In addition, the carrier said to expect two Palm WebOS-based devices in 2010 and promised to bring mobile apps to its line of mid-range Quick Messaging Devices (QMDs) with Qualcomm’s (NASDAQ:QCOM) Brew Mobile platform.

At its annual Developer Summit today in Las Vegas, Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO of AT&T, along with the CEOs from AT&T’s new partners, promised five AT&T-exclusive devices by the first half of 2010. They included a Motorola smartphone, powered by its MotoBlur social-networking service, Dell’s first Android smartphone, an HTC device and two undisclosed Palm devices.

Citing the explosive growth in apps and app stores, De la Vega also told the 600 developers in attendance that AT&T would offer all major smartphone OS app stores in the future, beginning with the Android Market. AT&T will also support carrier billing for the Android Market, Palm, Windows Mobile and, notably, for Nokia’s Ovi store, a big win for the handset maker in the US market.

Given that the majority of AT&T’s subscribers are not smartphone owners, however, AT&T is also expanding its app strategy to its QMDs, mid-range integrated devices with full Web access and a Qwerty keyboard. Beginning in the second half of the year, AT&T will begin equipping all QMDs with BREW so that by the end of 2011, about 90% of AT&T’s devices in this segment will have Qualcomm’s OS on board. Samsung will be the first handset maker to launch a QMD with Brew, and HTC, LG and Pantech have Brew devices planned for late 2010 or early 2011.

“This category is one of the fastest growing and a real sweet sport for developers, because these customers are hungry for applications,” de la Vega said, adding that mid-range devices are AT&T’s sweet spot, with 30% of its postpaid customers purchasing these devices. “The bottom line is you will have the ability to reach this very sizable customer segment in a very simple and efficient way,” he said. “But it gets better. What about apps and screens beyond mobile phones? We are very excited and think there’s enormous potential for apps on other platforms.”

To bring apps beyond the mobile phone, AT&T also announced a new software development kit aimed at helping developers create apps not only for its high and mid-range smartphones but also for its IPTV service, U-Verse, as well as new devices coming out of its emerging devices initiative, which got a new Web site and new innovation lab today. AT&T already has more than 20 U-Verse apps today but plans to expand that as it grows its subscriber base to 30 million living units by 2011.