We saw that the iPhone-Verizon deal didn’t hit AT&T’s earnings so hard this morning and now the telecommunications giant is reporting the number of mobile broadband connections AT&T has facilitated in the last quarter. The company says that in terms of emerging devices (this includes non-phone wireless connections), 1.6 million connected devices were added to the network in the quarter.
Included in this category are what AT&T refers to as embedded computing devices, which are tablets, netbooks and laptops. AT&T says that more than 7 million connected devices have been added to the network over the past six quarters. The total number of emerging devices, including postpaid and prepaid embedded computing devices, connected to the AT&T network – both for consumers and businesses is exceeds 12 million, says the company.
In Q4 2010, AT&T added nearly $2 million devices, but this number could be higher because of the holiday retail season at the end of the year.
Business users and consumers can use AT&T wireless connection plans for more than 100 specialty devices, including eReaders, netbooks, digital photo frames, personal navigation devices, telematics, home security monitoring and smart grid devices.
AT&T will support a number of new connected device this year including a deal with Ford Motor Company to wirelessly connect the Ford Focus Electric, Ford’s first all-electric passenger car. AT&T will also provide the network connection for Acer’s first 4G tablet, the Acer Iconia Tab A501.