AT&T try to sell wireless broadband laptops

AT&T Inc. is going to go beyond cell phones and test selling laptops in its stores in Atlanta and Philadelphia.
The move, announced Wednesday at a trade show in Las Vegas, comes as the cell phone market is starting to saturate, and wireless carriers are looking for ways to expand into other gadgets.
Just as it does with cell phones, the phone company will subsidize the price of laptops when the customer signs a two-year contract.

In Atlanta, customers will be able to buy a small "netbook"-type laptop for $50 if they sign up for home and wireless broadband service for $60 per month.
That offer is also new for AT&T: it normally charges $60 per month for wireless access alone. It is being tested only in Atlanta.
AT&T stores in both Atlanta and Philadelphia will be selling more expensive laptops as well, ranging up to a Lenovo X200 for $850 when bought with wireless broadband. Lenovo Group Ltd. sells it for $1,120.

Dallas-based AT&T started subsidizing netbooks sold at RadioShack Corp. stores late last year, bringing the price to $100, down from $500, for buyers who signed up for wireless broadband.

BlackBerry maker launches add-on applications

Research in Motion Ltd., the maker of BlackBerry phones, launched its awaited one-stop shop for add-on applications on Wednesday.
While third-party programs have long been available for BlackBerry phones from many sources, the Waterloo, Ontario-based company is now following in Apple Inc.'s footsteps by creating and operating a central store. Every other major company in the "smart" phone industry is doing the same.
BlackBerry App World is available as a free download from RIM's Web site, with 1,000 applications. Users need an account with eBay Inc.'s PayPal payment service and a BlackBerry with a trackball or touch screen.

RIM Co-Chief Executive Jim Balsillie said the company is looking to strike deals with wireless carriers so that shoppers can charge their purchases to their phone bill instead of using PayPal. App World will share revenue with the carriers and allow them set up their own stores within the store.
Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday announced that carrier stores and billing will be part of its Windows Marketplace for Mobile, an applications store that will launch with new phones toward the end of the year.
Nokia Corp., the world's largest maker of cell phones, has several application stores but said earlier this year that it would combine them into one. Google Inc. runs an Android Marketplace of programs for the T-Mobile G1 phone, which will be joined by other phones running Google's Android software this year.
The launch of App World coincides with a speech by RIM's other co-CEO, Mike Lazaridis, at a cell phone trade show opening Wednesday in Las Vegas. He plans to profile the BlackBerry as a music-playing device, an important capability now that RIM is taking it from a business-oriented e-mail gadget to a mainstream smart phone competing with the iPhone.
But Balsillie said RIM has no plans to launch a music store of its own, like Apple and Nokia have.