Verizon Wireless (VZ) made a big splash this week with the news of its plans—at last—to offer the much-coveted iPhone from Apple (AAPL) starting Feb. 10, busting up the AT&T (T) four-year lock on the popular smartphone.
But AT&T hasn’t been sitting still. Ma Bell has been busy filling out its portfolio of phones running on the fast-growing Android operating system from Google (GOOG).
Android is no slouch. It’s projected eventually to overtake market-leading iPhone. Android has kept Verizon afloat in the iPhone desert and revived Motorola (MMI). And now it may provide some juice to AT&T.
AT&T announced some Android phones at the just-ended Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that will keep app fans happy. These include:
—Atrix 4G from Motorola, which will run on AT&T’s next-generation HSPA+ network. It will have a 4-inch HD display and front- and rear-facing cams. Atrix, which will be launched in the second quarter, has some other tricks up its sleeve: a dock to enable streaming video on a TV.
—Samsung (005930.KS) Infuse 4G, with a 4.5-inch touch screen and front- and rear-facing cameras. Infuse will be available in the second quarter.
—HTC (2498.TW) Inspire 4G with a 4.3-inch super LCD display and an 8.0 megapixel camera with HD video capabilities.
Josh Uhlemeyer in Technorati notes AT&T is staying in the smartphone game in other ways, including 4G plans for their network. “During the course of 2011 AT&T will be improving the company’s existing HSPA+ network with enhanced backhaul, which will allow users to reach speed of up to 6 Mbps in some markets,” he said. “The company is also working toward rolling out their LTE network over the course of 2011 and have it completed in 2013.”
