AT&T to take on Amazon's Kindle
By siliconindia   |   Thursday, 04 June 2009, 00:02 IST
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AT&T to take on Amazon's Kindle
Bangalore: The rising demand in the consumer electronics market is influencing the wireless telecommunications operators to rethink on their strategies. The devices that make use of internet to deliver a service to the user, is driving the demand. In order to stay ahead in the competition, AT&T has started looking at newer avenues. "We are planning to power a device that will compete with Amazon's Kindle e-reader, which uses Sprint Nextel's 3G network without the user directly paying Sprint," said Glenn Lurie, president of emerging devices and resale at AT&T Mobility. "The iPhone has helped convince device makers that they should wirelessly connect their products," Lurie said while speaking at the Connections consumer electronics show in Santa Clara, California. According to Lurie, the AT&T's iPhone deal with Apple, which he had negotiated, also made the mobile operator to try new things. AT&T is also trying to tap the potential by introducing cheaper pricing plans to its subscribers. "Consumer electronics devices with embedded wide-area wireless represent the next big revenue opportunity for mobile operators, but the new business will force AT&T and others to create new business models." Currently AT&T offers a $60 per month plan that comes with a 5 GB data cap, but it also trialed a $40 plan. According to Lurie, another emerging technology, cloud computing, is also playing a role in this new trend. "With their low processing power and small storage capacities, portable devices will rely on cloud-based resources on networks," he added. With a huge market opportunity, the mobile operators will start looking at newer services that will ultimately benefit the customers.

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