AT&T to Be ‘Premier’ Windows Phone 7 Vendor
Say all you want about whether Windows Phone 7 (WP7) will succeed, but AT&T continues to back the platform wholeheartedly after endorsing it — and Microsoft 's mobile efforts — repeatedly over the last year. — “We'll be the premier carrier …
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft heads into the fall with a credibility problem on mobile: the Kin phone failed within weeks of launch, rank-and-file morale took a documented hit, and hundreds of employees were cut in the July fiscal-year realignment. Against that backdrop, AT&T's pledge — repeated over the past year and reaffirmed now — to be the 'premier' carrier for Windows Phone 7 is the strongest external vote of confidence the platform has.
For AT&T, the endorsement lands mid-network-trouble: the carrier spent early July confirming an Alcatel-Lucent equipment fault behind slow iPhone 4 uploads while denying any intentional throttling. A flagship role in a new OS launch gives AT&T a fresh headline that isn't about iPhone network performance.
First-order effects
- Microsoft gains a committed U.S. launch carrier for Windows Phone 7 this fall — guaranteed shelf space and marketing priority at the largest iPhone operator, directly offsetting the momentum lost to the Kin failure and the summer layoffs.
Second-order effects
- Other major carriers now face a choice: negotiate comparable WP7 positioning or concede the launch window to AT&T, and handset vendors get a clear lead U.S. partner around which to sequence their first WP7 devices.
Third-order effects
- If 'premier carrier' endorsements become the standard template for OS launches, smartphone competition consolidates around carrier-platform alliances rather than device-by-device exclusivity deals — raising the bar for any new entrant lacking a named flagship operator.
The trend: Carrier endorsements are becoming a decisive gate for which mobile operating systems reach scale in the U.S. market.