AT&T Promises to Step Up Android Offerings, Shows 5 New Phones

From DailyTech: AT&T, Inc. hasn't exactly always been the heaviest proponent of Android, instead pushing hard offerings like the Apple, Inc. iPhone -- long an AT&T exclusive -- and Research in Motion, Ltd. business-minded Blackberry smartphone lineup. But with RIM's sales slumping, the era of iPhone exclusivity long since at the end, and Android the de-facto winner of the smartphone wars, in terms of market share, the need for a shuffling of AT&T's lineup and refocusing is apparent.

To that end AT&T announced today, "In January, AT&T announced plans to introduce 12 Android devices in 2011 and today AT&T confirmed that goal has been met and will be exceeded during the fourth quarter."

Clearly the Atrix 4G and Captivate Glide fill the role of high-end Android smartphones; the Pocket and DoubleTime fill the low-end smartphone niche; and the Avail fills the much-need utility of a pre-paid Android offering. The Atrix 4G, in particular should be interesting to keep an eye on. The new model looks reasonably impressive hardware-wise, but the last generation was a sales dud. Clearly Google hopes that changes with the refresh.

AT&T's Android lineup is starting to look pretty impressive, led by Samsung's gorgeous best-selling Galaxy S II. AT&T has launched 12 Android phones and 2 Android tablets thus far this year. While still a bit behind Verizon Communications, Inc. in pure volume of Android handset options, the company has a strong enough lineup to do well.

Now its biggest problem will be selling customers on that lineup and stepping up its Android-dedicated advertising efforts in the U.S. After all its rivals -- Sprint Nextel Corp., Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile USA, and Verizon have done a much better job in advertising their Android offerings. In Verizon's case, that's allowed it to convince many customers to pay its high plan rates -- the highest among the four major carriers. From a business perspective, AT&T would be wise to follow Verizon's example.

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