New Category: Connected Devices
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"We carry about half of all the wireless data traffic in the United States today," Lindner said. "Second, you need a
broad, data-capable device lineup. We have that today, and you should expect to
see us continue rolling out terrific devices as we go through this year. We
have twice the number of smartphones on our network as any of our competitors.
And third, you need rich access to applications. Again, an area where we
lead."
In its new "connected devices" category, which includes e-readers
such as the Kindle 2, GPS devices and soon the Apple iPad, it added 1.1 million
customers, for a total of 5.8 million. Lindner said this was an important new
area for the company, explaining, "We believe the range of the devices that
will be connected wirelessly in the future will be both broad and deep."
Analyst Roger Kay of Endpoint Technologies agreed it was a good quarter for the
carrier.
"Bringing its subscribers up to within a scootch of Verizon's is great for
AT&T. The iPhone has definitely been a boost," Kay told eWEEK.
"At this point, AT&T needs to continue to build out its network to
accommodate the slew of data-heavy endpoints that will follow the iPhone's
lead."
Kay added, "The
company took an image hit when its service couldn't keep up with the increased
data usage, but overall the relationship with Apple has been beneficial and
should stand AT&T in good stead as more Apple competitors join the
battle."
In all, the carrier was positive about past efforts, as well as plans to
reinvigorate its relationship with current iPhone customers before its
exclusive relationship with the device ends.
"In January we outlined a plan for you, and I believe what you've seen in
our results today is that we delivered what we said we would-hopefully what you
see is we delivered a little more than what we said we would," Lindner
said in closing remarks.
"We had a terrific start to the year. Wireless growth was excellent. Best
ever churn, best ever post-paid ARPU, best-ever first-quarter net ads, strong
data growth and I think even more importantly we have a terrific technology
path going forward, to continue to delivery wireless growth," Lindner said.
"We're already seeing solid improvements in data download speeds, and
we've got a lot more to come there."
