Is AT&T; preparing for life after the iPhone with the Samsung Captivate?

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AT&T; just beefed up its Android line-up with the announcement of the Samsung Captivate and may be signaling that it's preparing for life after its exclusive iPhone deal expires.

Combined with the new HTC Aria, announced earlier this week, the Captivate will give AT&T; an array of Android phones that should appeal to those AT&T; subscribers not interested in the iPhone.

But more intriguing is the idea that AT&T; is either hedging its bets should it lose iPhone exclusivity soon or perhaps it knows it's losing its iPhone deal and is preparing for this new reality with the Captivate.

That might make more sense considering the latest go-around on the iPhone-to-Verizon rumor, which popped up again today following a report in Digitimes. According to the report, Pegatron Technology will be producing the iPhone 4 for CDMA networks in the fourth quarter, meaning a Verizon version could arrive late this year or early next year.

If, in fact, this happens, it would behoove AT&T; to have more robust Android phones. It presumably wouldn't lose the iPhone but it would be good to have more Android devices to cover its bases and tap into the growing interest for Android phones.

Like the Droid Incredible and EVO 4G, the Samsung Captivate is a top-flight phone that is able to compete with the iPhone. The device sports a 4-inch Super AMOLED screen, a 1GHz processor, Android 2.1 and Samsung's Social Hub, an HTC Sense-like feature that integrates a user's social networking services, messages, personal and business email, calendars and contacts.

The Captivate, which comes with 16GBs of storage, will also include a gyroscope that combines with the accelerometer to create a six-axis motion sensor. The 5-megapixel camera will record in 720p.

Altogether, this is arguably the best non-iPhone AT&T; has ever carried. In the past, this might not have gone over well with Apple, whose iPhone was AT&T;'s flagship device. But either Apple understands you can't stop the Android tide or AT&T; knows that its days of being the sole supplier of the iPhone are coming to an end and so it makes sense to stock up on new super phones.

The Samsung Captivate will go on sale in the coming months. The price has not been announced.

Posted By: Ryan Kim (Email) | June 17 2010 at 10:24 AM

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