Posting from Las Vegas: I’m at AT&T’s event at the Consumer Electronics Show this morning, where the company is expected to announce a series of new phones and devices, possibly involving Nokia and Microsoft’s Windows Phone.
The news should be coming up shortly. Nokia CEO Stephen Elop is in the house, according to his Twitter feed. Stay tuned for more details.
Update, 10:41 a.m.: AT&T Mobility President Ralph de la Vega starts the smartphone portion of the event by unveiling a series of Android devices, starting with the Sony Xperia Ion and the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket HD.
10:44 a.m.: Now Samsung has taken the stage to detail plans to bring the Galaxy Note to the U.S., exclusively on AT&T’s LTE network. This is the hybrid phone/tablet, with 5.3 inch screen, that we’ve written about in the past.
10:50 a.m. Teaser video shown for Pantech Burst and Samsung Exhilarate phones and Pantech Element tablet. The Burst and Exhilarate will be available for less than $50 running on LTE, de la Vega says.
10:57 a.m.: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer makes a surprise appearance on stage, showing his trademark enthusiasm and saying that AT&T and Microsoft will be launching the first Windows Phones on LTE. It looks like it’s just a tease, because Ballmer says more details will be announced during the day — presumably later on during the Nokia news conference.
“We’re incredibly optimistic about the progress we made with the product,” Ballmer says of Windows Phone. “We’re also seeing a lot of enthusiasm and momentum building among the developer community.”
Ballmer concludes with a shout-out to the developers in the audience, echoing his famous line: “There’s still only one clarion call that’s clear in my mind: Developers, developers, developers.”
11:11 a.m.: HTC’s Peter Chou introduces the HTC Titan II Windows Phone, with a “whopping” 16 megapixel camera. This device will run on LTE. Chou also gives Windows Phone a personal endorsement, saying he uses one as his personal device.
Update: See this follow-up post for more details on the HTC Titan II.
11:16 a.m.: Here comes Nokia. Elop takes the stage. Calls the Lumia line the first “real Windows Phone” that married the software and the hardware. He promises more details on Nokia’s return to the U.S. later this afternoon, says Nokia will deliver its first LTE Windows Phone to the U.S. with AT&T. This is presumably the long-rumored Lumia 900.
The announcements are being made during AT&T’s Developer Summit at the Palms in Las Vegas. The company’s executives have been using the event to detail a series of new tools for mobile software developers, including APIs that will let them create apps that work in conjunction with AT&T’s television program.
In addition, the company announced a next-generation App Store for HTML5 and Android apps, saying that it will also connect to other mobile app stores. The new approach reflects the predicted rise of HTML5 on mobile devices.
AT&T is also talking about plans to launch Sony’s PlayStation Vita handheld device on its network, with a 250MB plan for $14.99 a month, and a 2 GB plan for $25 a month.
That’s a wrap from the AT&T event.
