AT&T is following through on its plan to leverage and expand its U-verse IPTV service, more specifically, its U-verse Mobile service. The company announced yesterday that U-verse Mobile IPTV will be available on the Samsung Captivate, HTC Aria, and soon, the Motorola BRAVO handsets, all of which run on Google’s Android mobile operating system. AT&T Mobility customers can download the U-verse Mobile app on the Android Market, according to a news release. Separately, AT&T announced that AT&T U-verse Mobile will be available on RIM’s new BlackBerry Curve 3G smartphone. The mobile app can be downloaded on BlackBerry App World, the company said.
AT&T has all the bases covered when it comes to mobile IPTV accessibility as it is now available on all four major mobile OSs: Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android, RIM’s BlackBerry and Windows 7 Mobile. “We continue to innovate and integrate across devices, and we’re proud to bring the popular U-verse Mobile app to Android users,” Jeff Weber, vice president of video services, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets, was quoted as saying. “We’re already ahead of our competitors in delivering TV content across screens, and we’ll keep focusing on bringing content to customers in new ways.”
The latest U-verse Mobile apps are available to all U-verse TV customers. the ability to download and watch select content is available to those who subscribe to the U300 or higher packaged services. U-Verse Mobile enables U-verse TV subscribers browse the service’s program guide and schedule and manage DVR recordings. Subscribers with qualifying TV plans can download TV shows over any Wi-Fi connection and watch them on qualified smartphones. Content choices are limited though — AT&T only has mobile rights to select content.
AT&T and Microsoft last week announced that U-Verse would be available on both the X-box as well as on smartphones running the newly launched Windows Phone 7 OS. What differentiates the Windows Phone 7 U-verse offering is that it’s available for $9.95 per month not only to U-verse subscribers but to anyone with a Windows 7 smartphone, creating a wireless OTT video subscription model.
