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NEW ORLEANS--AT&T is proposing some serious branching out with its new services for securing your home, and managing its appliances remotely from your smartphone or tablet.

At CTIA 2012, AT&T showed off its concept with a demo house equipped in the Big Easy's lovely Garden District.

Let's tackle security first. AT&T lays physical sensors on the doors and windows. If they trip, or if the smoke detector trips, a couple of things happen. First, any response you've programmed goes into effect. For instance, you might decide to set it to blare the radio or TV, or sound an alarm or flash a strobe light.… Read more

NEW ORLEANS--AT&T and Samsung must be selling enough of the "Focus" family of Windows Phones to be inspired to do it again.

The day before CTIA kicks off, the two partners took the wraps off the Samsung Focus 2, a $50 Windows Phone outfitted with LTE.

The phone also features a 4-inch Super AMOLED display and a 5-megapixel camera that can support 720p HD video. A front-facing VGA camera is also onboard.… Read more

NEW ORLEANS--AT&T will finally make good on its promise to let consumers remotely control every facet of their home -- from the thermostat to the door locks -- through any smartphone, PC, or tablet.

A day before the CTIA Wireless conference kicks off, AT&T said it would enter the home security and automation business in a big way. The company said it has formed a digital life services group to push these services, which will be available nationwide and work with any Internet connection.

The creation of the group represents a completely new business for AT&… Read more

AT&T remains the king of the iPhone, but that distinction means less with each passing quarter.

The Dallas telecommunications giant sold 4.3 million iPhones in the first quarter, more than 1 million more than Verizon Wireless, and almost certainly more than Sprint Nextel, which sold 1.8 million in the fourth quarter at the height of the iPhone 4S buzz.

So why did AT&T only add a fraction of the contract customers that Verizon nabbed in the same period?

The results highlight an increasingly alarming trend with the wireless carriers: the decreasing benefit that the … Read more

Consumers eyeing Nokia's Lumia 900 will now find only the black model in stock through AT&T.

The carrier's Lumia 900 page shows both the white and cyan models as "temporarily out of stock." AT&T's retail outlets are also reportedly facing the same shortage, according to smartphone enthusiast site WPCentral, which says that both color models are hard, if not impossible, to find in-store.

A Nokia representative confirmed the shortage.

"We have certainly seen that while all of the Nokia Lumia 900 devices have been popular, the cyan and white have … Read more

If you're a developer looking to make a splash, Windows Phone is the place to do it.

Now, I know Windows Phone isn't exactly the most popular smartphone operating system out there. Apple's iOS remains the go-to platform for developers, and Android offers a massive potential customer base.

But in both cases, your app risks getting lost in the sea of other programs available on both platforms. You want to be noticed? Take a chance on Windows Phone, which has a fraction of the apps available on iOS and Android. There's a higher chance you'll … Read more

Although it's still too early to tell if the Lumia 900 is both Nokia and Microsoft's saving grace, numerous AT&T stores reported that the demand for the device is surpassing its supply.

According to an informal Gizmodo investigation, 36 stores sold out of the handset within the first few days of its debut, especially in the cyan color:

"Ten stores had run out of cyan entirely but had the black model available in limited quantities," the publication reported.

"Many told us stock would be replenished by the next day, with just two saying … Read more

Do you feel you're expressing yourself as an individual because you have the same smartphone as everyone else?

That's the message being promoted in the latest not-so tongue-in-cheek ad created by Nokia and AT&T. Trying to drum up interest in the new Lumia 900 Windows Phone, the two companies are hard at work unleashing a series of ads aimed at deriding the competition.

The latest ad (also seen below) starts off by calling other smartphone users beta testers and proclaiming that all other smartphones look alike. To prove the point, the gentleman portrayed in the ad … Read more

AT&T's marketing clout for the Lumia 900 isn't quite as hefty as initially thought.

The budget to push Nokia's smartphone is significantly lower than the $150 million that Ad Age had reported yesterday, according to a person familiar with the situation. The Verge reported that the actual budget is more in line with a typical high-profile launch.

An AT&T representative declined to comment on a specific figure for the budget.

The amount AT&T spends is crucial to how successful the Lumia 900 will be, as a majority of phones are still … Read more