AT&T Touts Its Smart-Phone Lead

Citing independent market research, AT&T announced its customer base now boasts twice as many smartphone users as any other U.S. mobile operator, reporting that close to 32 percent of its postpaid subscribers now use an integrated device.

According to M:Metrics, a mobile-research unit of comScore, AT&T had 11.8 million smart-phone customers in March, more than double the 5.1 million that the combined Verizon Wireless-Alltel had and 47% of U.S. smart-phone customers. The top two carriers were followed by Sprint, with 4 million, and T-Mobile, with 3.7 million.

AT&T is launching an ad campaign this weekend on CBS that highlights the smart-phone designation. The commercial features a businessman emailing with his boss and sending files on a bus that’s morphed into a harried workplace. “Some days my 8:15 bus is just a bus. But other days, like today, it’s my office,” he says in the voiceover.

The Dallas telecommunications provider was the nation’s biggest wireless carrier overall until Verizon Wireless acquired fellow provider Alltel and its 13.2 million customers. Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone, ended the first quarter with 86.6 million total subscribers, while AT&T had 78.2 million.

According to AT&T, more new and existing customers activated integrated devices in Q1 than the carrier added in new postpaid subscribers. AT&T credits the smartphone user growth to its 3G network and nearly 20,000 U.S. WiFi hotspots--the press release also highlights the carrier's lineup of devices, specifically the BlackBerry Bold and Nokia E71x.

AT&T notes it currently provides smartphones across five different open operating systems, adding its portfolio includes nine WiFi-capable devices and five touchscreen phones as well as a host of full-qwerty quick messaging phones. AT&T adds it will soon launch a new advertising campaign that spotlights its smartphone leadership and illustrates how consumers are exploiting devices to stay productive.

(May 16, 2009)