AT&T Developers Summit. Mobility at its Best

The 2011 AT&T Developer's Summit was a great experience for SDSol Technologies. We learned a ton about new happenings in the mobile space and are more excited than ever to grow out from our back-end programming  roots into front-end app development. Basically the themes of the day were new smart-phones, better software development kits for mobile platforms, and more connectivity for traditionally off-line devices.

4G – Still some debate as what truly qualifies as 4G. From the perspective here it seems as if both HSPA+ and LTE are 4G networks. The first half of 2011 will see AT&T finish up their HSPA+ deployment, moving onto LTE in the second half. I am still under the opinion that no carrier’s US network is truly 4G at this point in time. My qualifier for 4G is the ability to ditch my Comcast internet at home and play Xbox Live via my cell-phone connection, without violating the data usage agreement.

Motorola Atrix 4G – this thing is awesome. It speaks to a belief that I have had for awhile – you only really need one “computer” if it can play nice with accessories. Add on a “laptop dock” or keyboard and monitor and you have a workstation, unplug them and you have a phone. Very cool, and it has more RAM than some computers out there.

HTC Inspire 4G – another impressive phone. While the Atrix gets its cool points via the laptop dock, this one wins by ringing louder when it is in your pocket or purse. HTC Sense adds a lot of functionality.
Samsung Infuse 4G – rounds out the pack of sponsor phones for the introductory presentation. Thin, fast, and a very nice screen.  I am still mad at Samsung at this point because my Fascinate runs Android 2.1, while I am seeing 2.3 being deployed. They absolved themselves (and then some) later in the day.

The U-Verse app is very cool. In the demo, offered by AT&T’s Peter Hill, we are watching a sale on HSN on a TV, as the product is automatically displayed on his iPad. Essentially what happens is content on “the other” device is tailored to what you are doing on the primary device. This will be killer for sports fans. Imagine if every time I see Ron Artest on TV my computer will automatically go to YouTube and display “Malice at the Palace” replays. Works with DVR.

A lot of talk about how much HTML 5 can do on phones; we like this (along with WAC), because our developers won’t have to learn a dozen new languages. AT&T is launching their own SDK complete with carrier billing. Take a peek at www.developer.att.com/html5. AT&T Connection Kit for Device Developers is another cool one. We look forward to jumping in.

Lunch had some cool sponsor booths and free stuff. While there were plenty of shiny toys to play with, the biggest standout would be Sierra Wireless. They are doing some interesting work in the wireless mobile computing space. In addition to their Shockwave HSPA+ USB device for computers, look for them to do great work in connecting traditionally “dumb” devices such as home appliances into wireless networks.
During lunch Samsung redeemed themselves for their slow OS releases when I won a Samsung Galaxy Tablet. This thing is awesome.

Stuff We All Get

Apple & Google were both noticeably absent. Where were you guys? I would have imagined a presence since they have perhaps the most to gain with AT&T’s mobile future.

BrewMP is aggressively taking over the “dumb phone” space as the leading, developer friendly platform. I think they will. 

W.A.C. is anything but. The Wholesale Application Community offers mobile developers a one-stop deployment option. We will be able to submit applications to them, with the hopes their might will force manufacturers to all follow the same standards. I believe they will even handle billing, payments, and placements in app stores.

BlackBerry, as always, had some great business offerings. I didn’t get your card but thanks to the BlackBerry development team for the Torches. They are in good hands and we are tinkering already. Our business clients looking for more productivity out of their employees thank you in advance.

As the day progressed we ended up at the closing party at Rain Nightclub. Food was A+, Barenaked Ladies had a nice performance, and there was an amaaaazing whiskey tasting. Cheers to the Alcatel Lucent folks we met! I haven’t thought up a business offering for you guys (yet), but it was great to connect nonetheless. As the night wore on we got a kick out of seeing the mobile community loosen up their ties and shake their moneymakers.

Overall a very motivational experience for the company. 

Our to do list:

• Develop and release a kick-ass app using the WAC standards.
• Develop a productivity enhancer for BlackBerry
• Learn and love BrewMP

Off to C.E.S. now.

Looking for Miami mobile and telecom developers? Contact SDSol Technologies.