AT&T To Sell Netbooks In All Its Stores

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AT&T To Sell Netbooks In All Its Stores

AT&T (NYSE: T), which currently sells netbooks in Atlanta and Philadelphia and through RadioShack and Costco, has decided to begin selling them in all of its stores. “Ralph de la Vega, the head of AT&T’s consumer business, said on Tuesday that the U.S. phone company would directly sell netbooks from Dell Inc, Acer Inc and Lenovo Group Ltd starting this summer” reports Reuters. The telco hopes to expand the use of its data network past mobile phones and will likely use the same model—subsidizing the cost in exchange for customers signing a 2-year $60-a-month contract. AT&T is currently testing a $40-per-month fee for 200 megabytes of data downloads to netbooks, or about 1/25th of the downloads allowed under the $60 service. Verizon (NYSE: VZ) has announced similar plans.

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James Quintana Pearce May 19, 2009 5:36 PM ET

Posted In: Gadgets, Companies, AT&T

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Netbook Nomad

Mr. de la Vega is transforming the newly combined AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets into a Wi-Fi provider that leases netbooks. Traffic in the 2,200 company-owned stores is slow. The stores are not busy with handset upgrades and carrier-switchers. There is shelf space and time to display netbooks . The core business of 3G is flat and lacks coverage. Let's await Glenn Lurie, the President of AT&T Emerging Devices, to announce how subsidized netbooks will connect with the new Ruckus partnership for Wi-Fi with U-verse TV. At Frost & Sullivan's recent GoMobile Conference, Mr. Lurie pitched "connections per household" and "different billing options".