Microsoft, AT&T To Simplify Wireless Services For Mobile Workers

Microsoft AT&T Wireless

The partnership between the two Redmond, Wash., firms calls for AT&T to sell a Microsoft Pocket PC Phone Edition device and Smart Phone, as well as provide over-the-air provisioning services for IT departments and a "one-button" wireless PIM synchronization for Outlook users. Microsoft and AT&T Wireless also are working together on deploying location-based services using Microsoft's .Net technologies.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and John Zeglis, chairman and CEO of AT&T Wireless, said during a morning press conference that the devices and services will take the guesswork out of deploying wireless mobile solutions.

Zeglis said notebook users will get point-and-click buttons in existing Microsoft applications that will connect them to information they need over AT&T's wireless network. In addition, he said the deal would take the hassles out of provisioning mobile devices.

"The only thing mobile professionals will have to do to use their new, say, Windows-powered Pocket PCs, will be to open the box and turn it on," said Zeglis. "That's it. Wireless data settings will be preconfigured by the IT department and ready to be downloaded over the air, freeing IT for doing something other than having to install all these manually."

The new Pocket PC device and wireless services are expected to be available in the fourth quarter, while Smart Phones should be available by early-to-mid 2003, Zeglis said.

The two companies are currently undergoing trials with customers, Zieglis added. But partners will be left out of the deal for the short term, said an AT&T spokesman. Most carriers launch new services via inside sales and then later roll out products to partners. In this case, initial sales of the devices will be handled by AT&T's and Microsoft's internal sales teams, although the spokesman said AT&T will look to establish alternative channels in the future.

In the meantime, the location-based services, based on Microsoft's MapPoint .Net technology, will provide mobile workers access to location-enabled instant messaging for business workgroup, contact location and personal concierge services, the companies said.

"Wireless networks . . . give you a lot of information about where somebody is," Ballmer said. "Given that AT&T Wireless knows where you are, we want to put that information to use for the AT&T wireless customer: Show me a map to where I want to go next. Show me a map that tells me where all my buddies who are online and want to share that information with me [are located."

The new services from the two companies will be delivered over AT&T Wireless' fledgling 2.5G GPRS network. Zeglis said the network has been deployed to about 50 percent to 60 percent of the company's current market and is expected to roll out nationwide by the end of the year.

Competition for data services over these new networks will be intense, analysts say. Carriers have spent billions of dollars upgrading their wireless infrastructures to accommodate faster IP-based data transfers. Now they will be working to make sure their mobile users will be accessing the bandwidth for more than commodity phone services.

The announcement comes about one week before Sprint PCS is expected to launch its next-generation wireless network. Sources said the carrier had planned to launch the service next Thursday, although Sprint PCS has not confirmed the plan with all of its partners.

Microsoft also has a consumer-oriented technology agreement with Verizon Wireless, which provides service to its 2.5G network services using CDMA-based technology.