iPhone "critical" to home comms strategy says AT&T boss

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 12 June 2007 12:43

Your IT - Mobility

BusinessWeek has just published an interview with AT&T's new CEO, Randall Stephenson. His closing comment was "Our objective is to own all aspects of [communications] in the home. The iPhone is critical to this." That should tell you that Apple, and AT&T, have some surprises up their sleeves.

Stephenson seems to be putting heavy demands on what is after all just another cellphone, albeit a much hyped cellphone. But when you look at AT&T's overall strategy, it's easy to see why the iPhone could be so important.

AT&T has admitted that it aims to dominate the digital lifestyle market by integrating its networks and service to deliver services "to the three screens that matter most: the TV, the PC and the wireless handset.

It's already got a head start. It owns the largest digital voice and data network in the US and is the largest provider of wireline and wireless voice services as well as broadband Internet in the United States. But if it is to achieve this vision it will need to bring in a level of innovation and integration between the 'three screens' that sets it apart from its competitors.

How might it do this, and how might the iPhone help? First off, there has been endless speculation about what the iPhone will and won't do: allowing third party developers to write apps for it is a hot favourite, GPS support is another. And even if these and other innovations don't make it into iPhone Mark I when it comes out on 29 June, exclusively for use on AT&T's wireless network, there will certainly be a Mark II not far behind.