X

Ballmer reveals first LTE Windows Phone on AT&T (live blog)

Microsoft chief makes surprise showing at AT&T's CES event. Also: AT&T introduces six new 4G LTE devices--five smartphones, and also one tablet from Pantech.

Roger Cheng Former Executive Editor / Head of News
Roger Cheng (he/him/his) was the executive editor in charge of CNET News, managing everything from daily breaking news to in-depth investigative packages. Prior to this, he was on the telecommunications beat and wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal for nearly a decade and got his start writing and laying out pages at a local paper in Southern California. He's a devoted Trojan alum and thinks sleep is the perfect -- if unattainable -- hobby for a parent.
Expertise Mobile, 5G, Big Tech, Social Media Credentials
  • SABEW Best in Business 2011 Award for Breaking News Coverage, Eddie Award in 2020 for 5G coverage, runner-up National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award for culture analysis.
See full bio
Roger Cheng
AT&T's Ralph de la Vega, HTC CEO Peter Chou, and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer show off the Titan II at AT&T's developer summit today. Corinne Schulze/CNET

LAS VEGAS--At its annual developer summit--held near the hubbub of the Consumer Electronics Show--AT&T had a surprise guest: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who showed up to announce the first LTE Windows Phone on AT&T.

HTC CEO Peter Chou, up next, revealed it'd be the HTC Titan II. Then Nokia CEO Stephen Elop came on stage to tease to a U.S.-bound 4G Windows Phone device, saying he would provide more details later this afternoon. It's believed to be the Nokia Lumia 900.

AT&T announced today six new Android devices on its 4G LTE network, including the Sony Xperian Ion and Samsung's Skyrocket HD and Galaxy Note. The other three are budget devices, two from Pantech (including a tablet) and one from Samsung.

AT&T also said today that the PS Vita can connect to the Sony Playstation Network and nearby devices on the carrier's network.

The company also announced an API platform aimed to help developers create carrier-specific apps. Its API platform will be HTML 5 compatible. AT&T will allow developers to do in-app payments and billing through HTML. The company also unveiled Cloud Architect, giving developers access to computing and application development services.

AT&T shows off slew of LTE devices (photos)

+11 More
See all photos

We used ScribbleLive to live-blog the press conference, so if you missed it, you can scroll through it in the embedded component below. That will give you all the live updates along with commentary from our readers and CNET reporters.