Q&A: AT&T’s de la Vega discusses the three-screens of the future

AT&T’s Three-Screen strategy isn’t a new concept, but it is certainly a futuristic one. While it is just beginning to integrate the functions and melding the content of the TV, PC and mobile phone, its eventual plans call for a connected home and office where those three devices aren’t mere static end-points used to interact their respective networks but highly versatile interactive nodes, between which content and applications seamlessly glide.

Ralph de la Vega, president and chief executive officer of AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets described a future scenario where the mobile device—which can no longer be accurately described as a phone—acts as the central hub for the connected home. The device wakes you up in the morning, signals the coffee maker to start brewing and downloads your daily newspaper as well as personalized information alerts. Through accelerometers embedded in the device and an ultrahigh-capacity short-range connection, a flick of the wrist immediately transfers that content to the TV or PC screen and back. Location and presence sensors detect when you’ve left the house, lock the doors, activate the security system and start your car. The device then links to the car’s radio and navigation system on the road and docks with the enterprise network at the office.

Achieving this level of connectivity won’t happen overnight. The tight level of integration with everyday consumer devices may take until 2025 to become fully realized, de la Vega said, but many of the more essential connections—such as between the TV and the phone—are just around the corner. In an interview with Telephony, de la Vega detailed how AT&T will evolve to achieve that vision of a mobile, highly interconnected lifestyle and the biggest challenges AT&T and the industry will have to overcome along the way. In particular, de la Vega focused not on the challenge of innovating new technology but overcoming the problems created by technology. In his view, the potential complexity of future networks could be their biggest burden.

Q: We can assume wireless will become a larger and larger factor in our society going forward, but to what extent? How far will wireless permeate the average person’s life?

A: Wireless, and in particular mobile broadband, is going to change the way the world lives and works. Mobile broadband, with the capability it has to connect people and machines, is going to dramatically change the way we conduct commerce. Our daily rituals are going to be significantly different and hopefully change for the better. Businesses will be more efficient, and people will be more effective. I really think this is going to be huge for the world. It could even become a competitive issue. If countries don’t jump on this wave, they could be left behind as we all race to a mobile broadband environment.

How you get your content and where you view your content will change. Predominantly today, people watch video on their TVs. I think as you move toward the future, mobile broadband will enable that same video to be watched in many different places in a seamless way. The connection itself won’t matter and will be transparent to the customer. You can take your video with you. I think broadband in the future could be viewed with the same utility that long distance once was.

Q: What kind of company will AT&T be in the year 2025? What kind of services will it offer?

A: We’re going to be viewed not just as a broadband and data company but a company that allows you to move your broadband and take it with you, just like we’ve made voice mobile today. We found that if you make voice mobile, people used it more. Until recently people were tied to a desk or their homes when they used high-quality broadband. If they can use it just about anywhere, that dramatically changes the game. It dramatically improves usage and makes applications available to them in ways they’ve never seen before.

The smart companies will have this perspective: It’s not just what we can invent for the sake of inventing; it’s what we can invent that makes businesses run better and people’s lives easier. The companies that get it right will be the ones that make the technology that you use every day simpler and easier. When devices are easier to use, people will get more utility out of them, and usage will go way up.

One example I like to give is ‘slinging’ content to the TV. It’s something when I mention it to people they give me a blank stare: “You mean I can take content on my mobile phone, and with the flick of the wrist make it appear on my TV?” The answer is yes, we have it working in the lab. You don’t have to access a drop-down menu [or] go to option 3 and make sure your TV is on channel 2—it just works. The reason why it works is that these machines are smart enough and they’re connected enough to discover each other, exchange the right protocols, making the process transparent to the user.

That’s the game changer. If technology can make your life easier, instead of more complex, then we’ve hit a home run. That’s the possibility that’s in front of us. It’s up to us to seize it. By the time we get to 2025, we’ll be able to link with ease TVs and PCs and mobile phones and cars and coffee pots and refrigerators, all so you have a lot less to worry about in terms of running your life.