AT&T Developers Summit: What to ExpectAT&T Developers Summit: What to Expect

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) kicked off its two-day annual developers summit in Las Vegas Sunday ahead of the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show.

Here's a taste of what you might expect on day two:

Devices
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) will be the first carrier to launch the flagship Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) Windows phone -- the Long Term Evolution (LTE)-capable Lumia 900 -- in the U.S., an overeager Nokia rep confirmed to LR Mobile Sunday in Vegas. According to Technology Business Research Inc. (TBR) analyst Ken Hyers, this is a smart move.

"I think that if Nokia and Microsoft want it to be taken seriously as a competitor to the high-end Android smartphones and the iPhone then they have to go with a major carrier," he says.

As noted by Engadget, accessories manufacturer Anymode may have jumped the gun on an AT&T announcement of the Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Korea: SEC) Note arriving early in 2012. The Note, with its 5.3-inch screen, is either a really big Android smartphone or a dinky Android tablet.

LTE
TBR's Hyers expects that AT&T will focus on LTE launches in 2012 at the show. "It looks like their deployment schedule is pretty rapid, almost like a consistent drumbeat throughout the year," he suggests.

This is only sensible for AT&T. It currently has a 26-city LTE footprint to compete against 190 LTE towns and cities from Verizon Wireless .

Vegas or broke
Developers can also expect more chatter about machine-to-machine communications and evolving the Android operating-system infrastructure in Sin City, USA.

Light Reading Mobile will be there to cover the major keynotes from the AT&T conference. See you in Vegas, baby!

— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Light Reading Mobile