Credit Ralph De La Vega with seeing the way to the future. In the last quarter the mobile group has put on 2 million new devices. Note the shift from “cell phone” subscribers in this story by Kevin Fritchard over at Connected Planet Online.
The change in language is all about demonstrating that AT&T is NOT a phone company any longer. They are changing their mantra and becoming a connector of information services and entertainment in my book, and that means voice is no longer a main focus. While voice minutes will continue to be a revenue center, minutes are going to be thought of as much as dial tone. It’s a commodity service, that sells itself.
Going forward I see AT&T chasing all new forms of communications in more aggressive ways, using all those connected endpoints as attractive potential buyers. Watch as they evolve their N-Screen, mHealth, mFinance and M2M business lines while also having to fight more and more regulatory oversight.