AT&T drops limits on access to network
"You can use any handset on our network you want," says Ralph de la Vega, CEO of AT&T's wireless business. "We don't prohibit it, or even police it."
AT&T's push to give consumers maximum control of their wireless worlds is being driven, in part, by Google. The tech giant is a monster in the Internet search business for desktop PCs, and is hoping to replicate that success in the wireless market.
Google recently announced plans to link arms with more than two dozen wireless companies, including Sprint, with the goal of developing an operating system that lets consumers use any application on mobile devices, much as they now do on desktop PCs. Other partners include Japanese cell phone giant DoCoMo and handset maker Samsung.
Everything that Google has promised to bring to the wireless market a year from now AT&T is doing today, de la Vega says. "We are the most open wireless company in the industry."
AT&T for years kept quiet the fact that wireless customers had the option of using devices and applications other than those offered by AT&T. But now salespeople in AT&T phone stores will make sure that consumers "know all their options" before making a final purchase.
The AT&T wireless chief won't say whether AT&T plans to launch a marketing campaign to push "open" platforms, but allows that might be a possibility.
Despite its bear hug of "open" standards, one AT&T device, for now, will remain tightly closed: the Apple iPhone.
AT&T has a deal with Apple to be the exclusive U.S. distributor for the next five years. To get the device, consumers must sign a two-year contract.
AT&T has no plans to change that arrangement, de la Vega says. "The iPhone is a very special, innovative case."
Google's siren call for openness has stuck a finger in the eye of the U.S. cell phone industry, which for years has kept consumers on a short leash. Until recently, contracts were standard, and applications were largely limited to those endorsed (sold) by carriers.
That's changing. Verizon, regarded as one of the most restrictive carriers in terms of devices and applications, recently announced plans to let customers use any device and application they want.
The mobile Web is still considered an open - and largely untapped - frontier. That's one reason companies such as Google, which has little traction there, are so nervous about getting left behind.
WBJ Web Partners
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