AT&T Makes Heavy Bet On HTML5

AT&T's initial response to the Verizon iPhone may rely on price cuts and spurious '4G' claims, but in the longer term, its real weapons may lie in its applications strategy. The carrier has already shown greater boldness than Verizon in embracing new types of mobile devices, and now it aims to become a frontrunner in emerging software platforms too, notably HTML5 and multiscreen content.

Focal Points:

• Before the holiday, AT&T announced a string of new offerings for mobile developers, aiming to encourage them to bring their wares to the whole range of AT&T's smartphones, not just the Apple App Store.
• It is creating a software developers' kit (SDK) for HTML5, which could eventually break down the power of the app stores by shifting mobile apps and content to the browser. It also promises new tools to make it easier for programmers to link apps and content for smartphones with those for its U-Verse IPTV platform. And it is to open three new centers this year, for developers to test their products. The first will open this quarter in Plano, Texas and will be followed by locations in Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv, Israel. These are "designed to foster innovation and improve the cycle time from idea to market", according to CTO John Donovan at AT&T's developer summit last week at the CES show.
• AT&T's VP of data products, Mark Collins, told FierceMobileContent that HTML5 will help content and services to be created once and then run unchanged across multiple operating systems. The toolkit, to be introduced in March, will encourage uptake of the technology, and will support carrier billing and micropayments, enabling AT&T to monetize the trend. Collins said in the interview: "We will monetize it through carrier billing and other business models, like the Amazon model. Take it direct to consumer and also supply the infrastructure and open the network for other APIs and make money that way."

The new standards-based SDK for HTML5 is very important to the carrier, which believes that the majority of its smartphones will support HTML5 by the second half of this year.

Although Apple will be among the backers of the web standard, ironically the browser-based technology may spell the beginning of the end of the standalone app store, which has helped the iPhone gain such power.