AT&T Banking on New Services
By Sanford Nowlin, San Antonio Express-News
Mar. 28–AT&T Inc. this week unveiled a new service that lets wireless customers do their banking with phone handsets, another that lets them share video on cellular screens and a third that lets them download content from Napster, the once-renegade music service.
Those new features — announced at a wireless industry trade show in Orlando, Fla. — are the latest in a string of big cellular announcements from San Antonio-based AT&T, which said in January that it would be the exclusive carrier for the much-ballyhooed Apple iPhone.
Wireless growth has become essential for the telecom giant as landline customers switch to cable rivals such as Time Warner for phone service or solely rely on wireless.
“It’s absolutely critical for the continued growth of our revenues to offer these kind of new and innovative services,” said Jim Ryan, AT&T’s vice president of wireless data services. “Wireless voice revenues are leveling out.” AT&T, like other wireless providers, wants to blur the line between its wireless and landline services so that customers can access and share information between their handsets, their TVs and their computers. Such services drive data revenues, analysts said, and they can help retain customers.
“It’s about turning the wireless handset into a ‘Swiss army phone’ that can do anything,” said Roger Entner, wireless analyst for IAG Research.
For its mobile banking venture unveiled Tuesday, AT&T said it is partnering with BancorpSouth Inc. and Firethorn Holdings LLC to offer a new application that lets people check their accounts, transfer funds and pay bills via their phones. Wachovia Corp., Regions Financial Corp. and SunTrust Banks Inc. customers will be able to use the service, and Ryan said other financial institutions are likely to follow.
“We’ve seen some other companies talking about banking by cell phone, but this is the first time we’ve seen someone actually roll this out on a national basis,” independent telecom analyst Jeff Kagansaid. “This is a big deal, and I think we’ll see the other wireless companies getting into it.” In Europe and parts of Asia, mobile phone users can use their cell phones to pay at vending machines, tollbooths and even grocery counters. Kagan said U.S. customers are likely to take a shine to the idea over time, provided wireless companies can prove that their transactions are secure.
AT&T also said Tuesday it would make its new mobile-video service available this summer to customers in 50 U.S. markets, likely including San Antonio. The service, called Video Share, allows customers with data-enabled cell phones to hit a button to show live video of what they are seeing to the person on the other end. Callers also can switch the directions of the video stream during a call.
Using the service, a real estate agent in another city could, for example, give a client a “virtual tour” via phone, company officials said.
On Monday, AT&T unveiled Napster To Go, a subscription that allows access to Napster’s library of 3 million songs and shares downloads across devices including wireless handsets, PCs and portable MP3 players.
AT&T — which has so far trailed wireless carriers such as Sprint Nextel in mobile music — said it would give free Napster To Go service to customers who take its upper-end wireless packages or buy bundles of its telecom services.
Wireless analyst Entner said AT&T’s banking offering puts it ahead of the pack, its video offering is “on par” with what other providers are offering and its Napster announcement “catches it up” with what other providers are doing in the music arena.
The company’s $86 billion takeover of Atlanta’s BellSouth Corp. — a move that consolidated its ownership of Cingular Wireless, which the pair co-owned — has cleared the way for the company to bring more new services to market, Entner added. With full control of its wireless operations, the company can more quickly roll out new services that blend wireless and landline capabilities.
For example, AT&T’s Ryan said the company couldn’t have struck its deal with Napster as quickly if it was still partnered with BellSouth.
“It certainly helps put something like that together when you’re one big happy family,” he added.
ONLINE
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www.apple.com
www.napster.com
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