A mobile device or handheld device is a computer small enough to hold and operate in hand. Mobile devices are typically battery-powered and possess a flat-panel display and one or more built-in input devices , such as a touchscreen or keypad . Modern mobile devices often emphasize wireless networking , to both the Internet and to other devices in their vicinity, such as headsets or in-car entertainment systems, via Wi-Fi , Bluetooth , cellular networks , or near-field communication .
114-402: A tablet computer , commonly shortened to tablet , is a mobile device , typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry , and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being computers, have similar capabilities, but lack some input/output (I/O) abilities that others have. Modern tablets largely resemble modern smartphones ,
228-620: A Mac OS X -based tablet computer. The Modbook uses Apple's Inkwell for handwriting and gesture recognition, and uses digitization hardware from Wacom . To get Mac OS X to talk to the digitizer on the integrated tablet, the Modbook was supplied with a third-party driver. Following the launch of the Ultra-mobile PC , Intel began the Mobile Internet Device initiative, which took the same hardware and combined it with
342-456: A business-to-business transaction. For example, in hardware, a transportation company may find that the consumer-grade GPS module in an off-the-shelf tablet provides insufficient accuracy, so a tablet can be customized and embedded with a professional-grade antenna to provide a better GPS signal. Such tablets may also be ruggedized for field use. For a software example, the same transportation company might remove certain software functions in
456-492: A $ 39 billion stock and cash offer. The bid was withdrawn after the takeover company was faced with significant regulatory and legal hurdles, along with heavy resistance from the U.S. government. As per the original acquisition agreement, T-Mobile received $ 3 billion in cash as well as access to $ 1 billion worth of AT&T-held wireless spectrum. In September 2013, AT&T announced it would expand into Latin America through
570-464: A 7-inch display while Vega's was 15 inches. Many more products followed in 2010. Several manufacturers waited for Android Honeycomb , specifically adapted for use with tablets, which debuted in February 2011. Apple is often credited for defining a new class of consumer device with the iPad , which shaped the commercial market for tablets in the following years, and was the most successful tablet at
684-445: A Debian-based Linux distribution custom-made for their Internet tablet line. The user interface and application framework layer, named Hildon , was an early instance of a software platform for generic computing in a tablet device intended for internet consumption. But Nokia did not commit to it as their only platform for their future mobile devices and the project competed against other in-house platforms and later replaced it with
798-682: A TV remote controller , docking station , keyboard and added connectivity, on-board flash memory , ports for removable storage, various cloud storage services for backup and syncing data across devices, local storage on a local area network (LAN). Tablets, like conventional PCs, use several different operating systems , though dual-booting is rare. Tablet operating systems come in two classes: Desktop OS-based tablets are currently thicker and heavier. They require more storage and more cooling and give less battery life. They can run processor-intensive graphical applications in addition to mobile apps , and have more ports . Mobile-based tablets are
912-594: A collaboration with América Móvil . In December 2013, AT&T announced plans to sell its Connecticut wireline operations to Stamford-based Frontier Communications . AT&T acquired BellSouth Corporation on December 29, 2006, following FCC approval. The transaction consolidated ownership and management of Cingular Wireless. AT&T rebranded its wireless retail stores from Cingular to AT&T in January 2007. In late 2014, AT&T purchased Mexican cellular carrier Iusacell , and two months later, it purchased
1026-419: A handheld supplement to bulkier laptops . During the same period, the mobile phone evolved from supporting voice communication only to accommodating text messaging , Internet connectivity, multimedia, and videotelephony . These feature phones eventually gave way to the modern smartphone , which combined all the aforementioned devices, and more, into one device. Since the late 2000s, smartphones have been
1140-485: A keyboard and stylus, which reflected the changing uses. As of early 2016, Android reigned over the market with 65%. Apple took the number 2 spot with 26%, and Windows took a distant third with the remaining 9%. In 2018, out of 4.4 billion computing devices Android accounted for 2 billion, iOS for 1 billion, and the remainder were PCs, in various forms (desktop, notebook, or tablet), running various operating systems (Windows, macOS, ChromeOS, Linux, etc.). Since
1254-476: A keyboard or mouse. This operation makes precise use of our eye–hand coordination . Touchscreens usually come in one of two forms: Since mid-2010s, most tablets use capacitive touchscreens with multi-touch , unlike earlier resistive touchscreen devices which users needed styluses to perform inputs. There are also electronic paper tablets such as Sony Digital Paper DPTS1 and reMarkable that use E ink for its display technology. Many tablets support
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#17327978306841368-482: A large product category used for personal, educational and workplace applications. Popular uses for a tablet PC include viewing presentations, video-conferencing, reading e-books, watching movies, sharing photos and more. As of 2021 there are 1.28 billion tablet users worldwide according to data provided by Statista , while Apple holds the largest manufacturer market share followed by Samsung and Lenovo . The tablet computer and its associated operating system began with
1482-503: A lawsuit for the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division to block the merger with Time Warner, saying it "will harm competition, result in higher bills for consumers and less innovation." On June 12, 2018, U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Leon ruled that the merger could go forward. The merger closed two days afterwards, with Time Warner becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T. A day later,
1596-403: A mobile computing device is pocket-sized, but other sizes for mobile devices exist. Mark Weiser , known as the father of ubiquitous computing , referred to device sizes that are tab-sized, pad, and board sized, where tabs are defined as accompanied or wearable centimeter-sized devices, e.g. smartphones , phablets and tablets are defined as hand-held decimeter-sized devices. If one changes
1710-570: A mobile operating system such as Android have incorporated modern functionally including internet browsing and multimedia capabilities; for example Huawei MatePad Paper is a tablet that uses e-ink instead of typical LCD or LED panel, hence focusing on the reading digital content while maintaining the internet and multimedia capabilities. Some E-reader such as PocketBook InkPad Color and ONYX BOOX NOVA 3 Color even came with colored e-ink panel and speaker which allowed for higher degree of multimedia consumption and video playback. The Kindle line from Amazon
1824-518: A more significant approach to tablets in 2002 as it attempted to define the Microsoft Tablet PC as a mobile computer for field work in business, though their devices failed, mainly due to pricing and usability decisions that limited them to their original purpose – such as the existing devices being too heavy to be held with one hand for extended periods, and having legacy applications created for desktop interfaces and not well adapted to
1938-563: A non-mobile smartphone device. An example of a true mobile computing device, where the device itself is mobile, is a robot . Another example is an autonomous vehicle . There are three basic ways mobile devices can be physically bound to mobile hosts: Accompanied refers to an object being loosely bound and accompanying a mobile host, e.g., a smartphone can be carried in a bag or pocket but can easily be misplaced. Hence, mobile hosts with embedded devices such as an autonomous vehicle can appear larger than pocket-sized. The most common size of
2052-478: A separate entity, selling a 30% stake to TPG Capital (owners of Astound Broadband cable), while retaining a 70% stake in the new standalone company. The deal was closed on August 2, 2021. On May 17, 2021, AT&T announced plans to relinquish its equity interest in WarnerMedia , and have it merge with Discovery, Inc. in a US$ 43 billion deal to establish a new media company. Electronic Arts , which
2166-442: A specialty option. On April 24, 2020, AT&T announced that effective July 1, 2020, company COO John Stankey would replace Randall L. Stephenson as CEO of AT&T. It was also acknowledged that AT&T's acquisitions of DirecTV and Time Warner had by this point resulted in a massive debt burden of $ 200 billion for the company. As a result of planned cost cutting programs, the sale of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
2280-429: A stylus and support handwriting recognition . Wacom and N-trig digital pens provide approximately 2500 DPI resolution for handwriting, exceeding the resolution of capacitive touch screens by more than a factor of 10. These pens also support pressure sensitivity, allowing for "variable-width stroke-based" characters, such as Chinese/Japanese/Korean writing, due to their built-in capability of "pressure sensing". Pressure
2394-675: A tabletized Linux configuration. Intel codeveloped the lightweight Moblin (mobile Linux) operating system following the successful launch of the Atom CPU series on netbooks. In 2010, Nokia and Intel combined the Maemo and Moblin projects to form MeeGo, a Linux-based operating system supports netbooks and tablets. The first tablet using MeeGo was the Neofonie WeTab launched September 2010 in Germany. The WeTab used an extended version of
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#17327978306842508-676: A variant with 4G LTE support for AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon. In September 2013, Amazon further updated the Fire tablet with the Kindle Fire HDX . In November 2013, Apple released the iPad Mini 2 , which remained at 7.9 inches and nearly matched the hardware of the iPad Air . Smartphones and tablets are similar devices, differentiated by the former typically having smaller screens and most tablets lacking cellular network capability. Since 2010, crossover touchscreen smartphones with screens larger than 5 inches have been released. That size
2622-640: A version of an ARM processor for longer battery life. The ARM Cortex family is powerful enough for tasks such as internet browsing , light creative and production work and mobile games . Other features are: High-definition, anti-glare display , touchscreen, lower weight and longer battery life than a comparably-sized laptop, wireless local area and internet connectivity (usually with Wi-Fi standard and optional mobile broadband ), Bluetooth for connecting peripherals and communicating with local devices, ports for wired connections and charging, for example USB ports , Early devices had IR support and could work as
2736-623: A wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc. Cingular was then rebranded as AT&T Mobility . AT&T Inc. also acquired Time Warner in 2016, with the proposed merger confirmed on June 12, 2018 and the aim of making AT&T Inc. the largest and controlling shareholder of Time Warner, which it then rebranded as WarnerMedia in 2018. The company later withdrew its equity stake in WarnerMedia in 2022 and merged it with Discovery, Inc. to create Warner Bros. Discovery , divesting itself of its media arm. The current AT&T reconstitutes most of
2850-628: Is also a gaming tablet that runs on its own system software , features detachable Joy-Con controllers with motion controls and three gaming modes: table-top mode using its kickstand, traditional docked/TV mode and handheld mode. While not entirely an actual tablet form factor due to their sizes, some other handheld console including the smaller version of Nintendo Switch, the Nintendo Switch Lite , and PlayStation Vita are treated as an gaming tablet or tablet replacement by community and reviewer/publisher due to their capabilities on browsing
2964-505: Is also a prospect of leveraging mobile devices to facilitate cross-border services, warranting regulatory attention. Within the military domain, mobile devices have introduced novel prospects for delivering training and educational resources to soldiers, irrespective of their stationed location. AT%26T AT&T Inc. , an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company ,
3078-676: Is also used in digital art applications such as Autodesk Sketchbook . Apps exist on both iOS and Android platforms for handwriting recognition and in 2015 Google introduced its own handwriting input with support for 82 languages. After 2007, with access to capacitive screens and the success of the iPhone, other features became common, such as multi-touch features (in which the user can touch the screen in multiple places to trigger actions and other natural user interface features, as well as flash memory solid state storage and "instant on" warm-booting ; external USB and Bluetooth keyboards defined tablets. Most tablets released since mid-2010 use
3192-654: Is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas , Texas . It is the world's third largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest wireless carrier in the United States behind Verizon and T-Mobile . As of 2023, AT&T was ranked 13th on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations, with revenues of $ 122.4 billion. The modern company to bear
3306-410: Is generally considered larger than a traditional smartphone, creating the hybrid category of the phablet by Forbes and other publications. "Phablet" is a portmanteau of "phone" and "tablet". At the time of the introduction of the first phablets, they had screens of 5.3 to 5.5 inches, but as of 2017 screen sizes up to 5.5 inches are considered typical. Examples of phablets from 2017 and onward are
3420-466: Is often regarded as synonymous with having wireless connectivity, these terms are different. Not all network access by mobile users, applications, and devices needs to be via wireless networks and vice versa. Wireless access devices can be static and mobile users can move between wired and wireless hotspots such as in Internet cafés. Some mobile devices can be used as mobile Internet devices to access
3534-520: Is touch input on a touchscreen display. This allows the user to navigate easily and type with a virtual keyboard on the screen or press other icons on the screen to open apps or files. The first tablet to do this was the GRiDPad by GRiD Systems Corporation ; the tablet featured both a stylus , a pen-like tool to aid with precision in a touchscreen device as well as an on-screen keyboard. The system must respond to on-screen touches rather than clicks of
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3648-556: The Washington Post on May 10 confirmed the figure of 12 payments, which had begun three days after the President was sworn into office . AT&T confirmed the report the same day. The report from The Washington Post , as well as additional reporting from Bloomberg , revealed the payments had been made for Cohen to "provide guidance" relating to the attempted $ 85 billion merger with Time Warner , to gain information on
3762-460: The Apple Newton personal digital assistant in 1993. It used Apple's own new Newton OS , initially running on hardware manufactured by Motorola and incorporating an ARM CPU, that Apple had specifically co-developed with Acorn Computers . The operating system and platform design were later licensed to Sharp and Digital Ocean , who went on to manufacture their own variants. Pen computing
3876-709: The Asia Pacific ; its regional headquarters is located in Hong Kong. The company is also active in Mexico, and on November 7, 2014, it was announced that Mexican carrier Iusacell would be acquired by AT&T. The acquisition was approved in January 2015. On April 30, 2015, AT&T acquired wireless operations Nextel Mexico from NII Holdings (now AT&T Mexico). AT&T's current board of directors as of March 2024: The current management as of March 2024 includes: According to OpenSecrets , AT&T
3990-531: The Baby Bells , Ameritech sold some of its Wisconsin landlines to CenturyTel , in 1998; BellSouth sold some of its lines to MebTel, during the 2000s; US West sold many historically Bell landlines to Lynch Communications and Pacific Telecom , in the 1990s; Verizon sold many of its New England lines to FairPoint in 2008, and its West Virginia operations to Frontier Communications in 2010. On October 25, 2014, Frontier Communications took over control of
4104-562: The JooJoo . Intel announced plans to enter the tablet market with its Atom in 2010. In October 2013, Intel's foundry operation announced plans to build FPGA-based quad cores for ARM and x86 processors. ARM has been the CPU architecture of choice for manufacturers of smartphones (95% ARM), PDAs, digital cameras (80% ARM), set-top boxes , DSL routers, smart televisions (70% ARM), storage devices and tablet computers (95% ARM). This dominance began with
4218-826: The Kingsbury Commitment , throughout most of the twentieth century. This monopoly was known as the Bell System , and during this period, AT&T was also known by the nickname Ma Bell . In 1982, U.S. regulators broke up the AT&T monopoly , requiring AT&T to divest its local subsidiaries, which it did by grouping them into seven individual companies. These new companies were known as Regional Bell Operating Companies, or more informally, Baby Bells. AT&T continued to operate long-distance services but faced increasing competition from competitors such as MCI and Sprint . Southwestern Bell Corporation (SBC)
4332-635: The Mozilla Foundation announced a prototype tablet model with Foxconn which ran on Firefox OS . Firefox OS was discontinued in 2016. The Canonical hinted that Ubuntu would be available on tablets by 2014. In February 2016, there was a commercial release of the BQ Aquaris Ubuntu tablet using the Ubuntu Touch operating system. Canonical terminated support for the project due to lack of market interest on April 5, 2017 and it
4446-761: The Samsung Galaxy Note series (newer models of 5.7 inches), the LG V10 / V20 (5.7 inches), the Sony Xperia XA Ultra (6 inches), the Huawei Mate 9 (5.9 inches), and the Huawei Honor (MediaPad) X2 (7 inches). A 2-in-1 PC is a hybrid or combination of a tablet and laptop computer that has features of both. Distinct from tablets, 2-in-1 PCs all have physical keyboards , but they are either concealable by folding them back and under
4560-1160: The Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 12.2 at 12.2 inches (31 cm), the Toshiba Excite at 13.3 inches (33 cm) and the Dell XPS 18 at 18.4 inches (47 cm). As of March 2013, the thinnest tablet on the market was the Sony Xperia Tablet Z at only 0.27 inches (6.9 mm) thick. On September 9, 2015, Apple released the iPad Pro with a 12.9 inches (33 cm) screen size, larger than the regular iPad . Mini tablets are smaller and weigh less than slates, with typical screen sizes between 7–8 inches (18–20 cm). The first commercially successful mini tablets were introduced by Amazon.com ( Kindle Fire ), Barnes & Noble ( Nook Tablet ), and Samsung ( Galaxy Tab ) in 2011; and by Google ( Nexus 7 ) in 2012. They operate identically to ordinary tablets but have lower specifications compared to them. On September 14, 2012, Amazon, Inc. released an upgraded version of
4674-542: The Series 60 . Nokia used the term internet tablet to refer to a portable information appliance that focused on Internet use and media consumption, in the range between a personal digital assistant (PDA) and an Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC). They made two mobile phones, the N900 that runs Maemo, and N9 that run Meego. Before the release of iPad, Axiotron introduced an aftermarket, heavily modified Apple MacBook called Modbook ,
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4788-400: The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) follows in its rulemaking processes. The FCC would have to act in a more transparent way as a result of this bill, forced to accept public input about regulations. AT&T's Executive Vice President of Federal Relations, Tim McKone, said that the bill's "much needed institutional reforms will help arm the agency with the tools to keep pace with
4902-413: The divestiture of AT&T's ("Ma Bell") local operating subsidiaries which were grouped into seven Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), commonly referred to as "Baby Bells", resulting in seven independent companies, including Southwestern Bell Corporation (SBC). The latter changed its name to SBC Communications Inc. in 1995. In 2005, SBC purchased its former parent AT&T Corp. and took on
5016-553: The mouse , touchpad , and keyboard of larger computers. Portable computers can be classified according to the presence and appearance of physical keyboards. Two species of tablet, the slate and booklet , do not have physical keyboards and usually accept text and other input by use of a virtual keyboard shown on their touchscreen displays. To compensate for their lack of a physical keyboard, most tablets can connect to independent physical keyboards by Bluetooth or USB ; 2-in-1 PCs have keyboards, distinct from tablets. The form of
5130-473: The touchscreen and all other features of a typical tablet computer. Most of these tablets are targeted to run native OS games and emulator games. Nvidia 's Shield Tablet , with an 8-inch (200 mm) display, and running Android , is an example. It runs Android games purchased from Google Play store. PC games can also be streamed to the tablet from computers with some higher end models of Nvidia-powered video cards . The Nintendo Switch hybrid console
5244-476: The 1980s, with various input/output types tried out. Tablet computers appeared in a number of works of science fiction in the second half of the 20th century; all helped to promote and disseminate the concept to a wider audience. Examples include: Further, real-life projects either proposed or created tablet computers, such as: Following earlier tablet computer products such as the Pencept PenPad, and
5358-441: The 21st-century, mobile phone providers began making television available on cellular phones. In the 2010s, mobile devices were observed to frequently include the ability to sync and share a variety of data despite the distance or specifications of the devices. In the medical field, mobile devices are quickly becoming essential tools for accessing clinical information such as drugs, treatment, and even medical calculations. Due to
5472-625: The AT&T landline network in Connecticut after being approved by state utility regulators. The deal was worth about $ 2 billion, and included Frontier inheriting about 2,500 of AT&T's employees and many of AT&T's buildings. The company is headquartered at Whitacre Tower in downtown Dallas, Texas. On June 27, 2008, AT&T announced that it would move its corporate headquarters from downtown San Antonio to One AT&T Plaza in downtown Dallas. The company said that it moved to gain better access to its customers and operations throughout
5586-655: The AT&T name began its history as the American District Telegraph Company, formed in St. Louis in 1878. After expanding services to Arkansas , Kansas , Oklahoma and Texas through a series of mergers, it became Southwestern Bell Telephone Company in 1920, which was then a subsidiary of the original American Telephone & Telegraph Company . The latter was a successor of the original Bell Telephone Company founded by Alexander Graham Bell in 1877. The American Bell Telephone Company formed
5700-596: The American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) subsidiary in 1885. In 1899, AT&T became the parent company after the American Bell Telephone Company sold its assets to its subsidiary. During most of the 20th century, AT&T had a monopoly on phone service in the United States. The company was formally rebranded as AT&T Corporation in 1994. The 1982 United States v. AT&T antitrust lawsuit resulted in
5814-466: The Americas. Android tablets were more popular in most of Asia (China and Russia an exception), Africa and Eastern Europe. In 2015 tablet sales did not increase. Apple remained the largest seller but its market share declined below 25%. Samsung vice president Gary Riding said early in 2016 that tablets were only doing well among those using them for work. Newer models were more expensive and designed for
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#17327978306845928-625: The Android system, such as the internet browser, to reduce costs from needless cellular network data consumption of an employee, and add custom package management software. Other applications may call for a resistive touchscreen and other special hardware and software. A table ordering tablet is a touchscreen tablet computer designed for use in casual restaurants . Such devices allow users to order food and drinks, play games and pay their bill. Since 2013, restaurant chains including Chili's , Olive Garden and Red Robin have adopted them. As of 2014,
6042-943: The CIC Handwriter, in September 1989, GRiD Systems released the first commercially successful tablet computer, the GRiDPad . All three products were based on extended versions of the MS-DOS operating system. In 1992, IBM announced (in April) and shipped to developers (in October) the ThinkPad 700T (2521) , which ran the GO Corporation 's PenPoint OS . Also based on PenPoint was AT&T 's EO Personal Communicator from 1993, which ran on AT&T's own hardware, including their own AT&T Hobbit CPU. Apple Computer launched
6156-580: The Caribbean under the Vrio brand; and Advertising and Analytics, since renamed Xandr . On July 13, 2017, it was reported that AT&T would introduce a cloud-based DVR streaming service. It hoped to create a unified platform across DirecTV and its DirecTV Now streaming service, with U-verse to be added shortly afterward. The service, named HBO Max , launched in May 2020. On September 12, 2017, it
6270-487: The IPO due to market conditions. As of 2019, AT&T is the world's largest telecommunications company. AT&T is also the largest provider of mobile telephone services and the largest provider of fixed telephone (landline) services in the United States. In September 2019, activist investor Elliott Management revealed that it had purchased $ 3.2 billion of AT&T stock (a 1.2% equity interest), and had pushed for
6384-516: The Internet speed of today's marketplace. It will also ensure that outmoded regulatory practices for today's competitive marketplace are properly placed in the dustbin of history." In May 2018, reports emerged that AT&T made 12 monthly payments between January and December 2017 to Essential Consultants, a company set up by President Donald Trump 's lawyer Michael Cohen , totaling $ 600,000. Although initial reports on May 8 mentioned only four monthly payments totaling $ 200,000, documents obtained by
6498-558: The Internet while moving, but they do not need to do this and many phone functions or applications are still operational even while disconnected from the Internet . What makes the mobile device unique compared to other technologies is the inherent flexibility in the hardware and software. Flexible applications include video chat, web browsing, payment systems, near field communication, audio recording etc. As mobile devices become ubiquitous, there will be an increase of services which include
6612-694: The Kindle Fire, the Kindle Fire HD , with higher screen resolution and more features compared to its predecessor, yet remaining only 7 inches. In October 2012, Apple released the iPad Mini with a 7.9-inch screen size, about 2 inches smaller than the regular iPad , but less powerful than the then current iPad 3 . On July 24, 2013, Google released an upgraded version of the Nexus 7 , with FHD display, dual cameras, stereo speakers, more color accuracy, performance improvement, built-in wireless charging , and
6726-661: The MeeGo operating system called WeTab OS. WeTab OS adds runtimes for Android and Adobe AIR and provides a proprietary user interface optimized for the WeTab device. On September 27, 2011, the Linux Foundation announced that MeeGo would be replaced in 2012 by Tizen . Android was the first of the 2000s-era dominating platforms for tablet computers to reach the market. In 2008, the first plans for Android-based tablets appeared. The first products were released in 2009. Among them
6840-595: The Mexican wireless business of NII Holdings . AT&T merged the two companies to create AT&T Mexico . In July 2015, AT&T purchased DirecTV for $ 48.5 billion. AT&T then announced plans to converge its existing U-verse home internet and IPTV brands with DirecTV , to create AT&T Entertainment . On October 22, 2016, AT&T announced a deal to buy Time Warner for $ 108.7 billion in an effort to increase its media holdings. On November 20, 2017, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim filed
6954-578: The Private Enterprise Board of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC is a nonprofit organization of conservative state legislators and private sector representatives that drafts and shares model state-level legislation for distribution among state governments in the United States. During the period of 1998 to 2019, the company expended US$ 380.1 million on lobbying in
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#17327978306847068-587: The Trump administration's planned tax reforms, as well as about potential changes to net neutrality policies under the new FCC. Chairman of the FCC Ajit Pai denied Cohen ever inquired about net neutrality on AT&T's behalf. A spokesperson for AT&T said that the company had been contacted by the Special Counsel investigation led by Robert Mueller regarding the payments, and had provided all
7182-487: The U.S. and China. Android is a Linux -based operating system that Google offers as open source under the Apache license . It is designed primarily for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. Android supports low-cost ARM systems and others. The first tablets running Android were released in 2009. Vendors such as Motorola and Lenovo delayed deployment of their tablets until after 2011, when Android
7296-539: The United States. A key political issue for AT&T has been the question of which businesses win the right to profit by providing broadband internet access in the United States. The company has also lobbied in support of several federal bills. AT&T supported the Federal Communications Commission Process Reform Act of 2013 (H.R. 3675; 113th Congress) , a bill that would make a number of changes to procedures that
7410-547: The architecture, shipping their own ARM-based tablet computer, branded the Microsoft Surface , as well as an x86-64 Intel Core i5 variant branded as Microsoft Surface Pro. Intel tablet chip sales were 1 million units in 2012, and 12 million units in 2013. Intel chairman Andy Bryant has stated that its 2014 goal is to quadruple its tablet chip sales to 40 million units by the end of that year, as an investment for 2015. A key component among tablet computers
7524-469: The better-known AT&T name and brand, with the original AT&T Corporation still existing as the long-distance landline subsidiary of the merged company. The current AT&T Inc. claims the original AT&T Corporation's history (dating to 1877) as its own, but retains SBC's pre-2005 corporate structure and stock price history. As well, all SEC filings before 2005 are under SBC, not AT&T. AT&T made an attempt in 2011 to purchase T-Mobile for
7638-680: The breach. AT&T was also reported to have been affected by a 2024 attack from the Salt Typhoon advanced persistent threat linked to the Chinese government . Of the eight companies that were part of the Breakup of the Bell System, these five are a part of the current AT&T: AT&T's wireline business provides services in 22 states. The following companies have become defunct or were sold under SBC/AT&T ownership: Of
7752-817: The company changed its name to SBC Communications Inc. In early 1997 C. Michael Armstrong was named CEO, and Armstrong appointed John Zeglis as president later in that same year. By 1998, the company was in the top 15 of the Fortune 500, and by 1999, when Zeglis assumed the positions of chairman and CEO of AT&T Wireless , AT&T was part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (lasting through 2015). Zeglis ended his service as president of AT&T in 2001 and resigned from his positions in AT&T Wireless in 2004. On November 18, 2005, SBC Communications purchased its former parent, AT&T Corporation for $ 16 billion. After this purchase, SBC adopted
7866-402: The company is reported to shareholders on an annual basis and a matter of public record. Where performance has been restated, the most recent statement of performance from an annual report is used. AT&T reported Total CO2e emissions (Direct + Indirect) for the twelve months ending 31 December 2020 at 5,788 Kt (-737 /-11.3% y-o-y) and plans to reduce emissions by 63% by 2030 from
7980-421: The company to divest assets to improve its share value. On March 4, 2020, AT&T announced its intent to perform major cost-cutting moves, including cuts to capital investment, and plans to promote AT&T TV (which officially launched nationally on March 2) as its primary pay television service offering. AT&T stated it would still primarily promote DirecTV "where cable broadband is not prevalent", and as
8094-591: The company was dissolved in 2003. Sony released its Airboard tablet in Japan in late 2000 with full wireless Internet capabilities. In the late 1990s, Microsoft launched the Handheld PC platform using their Windows CE operating system; while most devices were not tablets, a few touch enabled tablets were released on the platform such as the Fujitsu PenCentra 130 or Siemens 's SIMpad . Microsoft took
8208-534: The company was renamed WarnerMedia. Three months after completing the acquisition, AT&T reorganized into four main units: Communications, including consumer and business wireline telephony, AT&T Mobility, and consumer entertainment video services; WarnerMedia, including Turner cable television networks, Warner Bros. film and television production, and HBO ; AT&T Latin America, consisting of wireless service in Mexico and video in Latin America and
8322-519: The development of pen computing . Electrical devices with data input and output on a flat information display existed as early as 1888 with the telautograph , which used a sheet of paper as display and a pen attached to electromechanical actuators . Throughout the 20th century devices with these characteristics have been imagined and created whether as blueprints , prototypes , or commercial products . In addition to many academic and research systems, several companies released commercial products in
8436-427: The early 2020s, various companies such as Samsung are beginning to introduce foldable technology into their tablets. Tablets can be loosely grouped into several categories by physical size, kind of operating system installed, input and output technology, and uses. The size of a slate varies, but slates begin at 6 inches (approximately 15 cm). Some models in the larger than 10-inch (25 cm) category include
8550-597: The form of the mobile devices in terms of being non-planar, one can also have skin devices and tiny dust-sized devices. Dust refers to miniaturized devices without direct HCI interfaces, e.g., micro-electromechanical systems ( MEMS ), ranging from nanometers through micrometers to millimeters. See also Smart dust . Skin : fabrics based upon light emitting and conductive polymers and organic computer devices. These can be formed into more flexible non-planar display surfaces and products such as clothes and curtains, see OLED display . Also, see smart device . Although mobility
8664-427: The former Bell System , and includes four of the seven "Baby Bells" along with the original AT&T Corp., including the long-distance division . AT&T was founded as Bell Telephone Company by Alexander Graham Bell , Thomas Watson and Gardiner Greene Hubbard after Bell's patenting of the telephone in 1875. By 1881, Bell Telephone Company had become the American Bell Telephone Company. One of its subsidiaries
8778-515: The headquarters for AT&T Mobility, with significant offices in Redmond, Washington, the former home of AT&T Wireless . Bedminster, New Jersey, is the headquarters for the company's Global Business Services group and AT&T Labs and is where the original AT&T Corp. remains located. St. Louis continues as home to the company's Directory operations, AT&T Advertising Solutions . AT&T also offers services in many locations throughout
8892-688: The information requested in November and December 2017. In early 2019, the Democratic House Judiciary requested records related to the AT&T-Time Warner merger from the White House . While it has expressed support for LGBTQ causes, AT&T has also donated to sponsors of anti-transgender legislation in several US states, especially those predominantly Republican -governed, including Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Texas and Florida. The financial performance of
9006-648: The internet and multimedia capabilities. Booklets are dual-touchscreen tablet computers with a clamshell design that can fold like a laptop. Examples include the Microsoft Courier , which was discontinued in 2010, the Sony Tablet P (considered a flop), and the Toshiba Libretto W100. Customized business tablets are built specifically for a business customer's particular needs from a hardware and software perspective, and delivered in
9120-413: The larger Google Play system, thereby fragmenting the Android market. In 2022 Google began to re-emphasize in-house Android tablet development — at this point, a multi-year commitment. Mobile device Device mobility can be viewed in the context of several qualities: Strictly speaking, many so-called mobile devices are not mobile. It is the host that is mobile, i.e., a mobile human host carries
9234-411: The latter's branding, history, and stock trading symbol, as well as a version of its iconic logo. The merged entity, naming itself AT&T Inc., launched on December 30, 2005. The newly merged and renamed AT&T Inc. acquired BellSouth Corporation in 2006, the last independent Baby Bell, making the two companies' joint venture Cingular Wireless (which had itself acquired AT&T Wireless in 2004)
9348-429: The mobile device has been marked by increasing technological convergence . Early mobile devices—such as pocket calculators , portable media players , satellite navigation devices , and digital cameras —excelled at their intended use but were not multifaceted. Personal digital assistants (PDAs) proliferated in the 1990s as a way to quickly write down notes, schedule business appointments, and set personal reminders, as
9462-783: The most common mobile device in the world, in terms of quantity sold, owing to their great convergence of technologies. By the early 2010s, mobile devices began integrating sensors such as accelerometers , magnetometers , and gyroscopes , allowing the detection of orientation and motion. Mobile devices may provide biometric user authentication, such as face recognition or fingerprint recognition. Handheld devices such as enterprise digital assistants have become more rugged for use in mobile field management . This involves tasks such as digitizing notes, sending and receiving invoices , asset management , recording signatures, managing parts, and scanning barcodes and RFID tags. In 2009, developments in mobile collaboration systems enabled
9576-477: The only differences being that tablets are relatively larger than smartphones, with screens 7 inches (18 cm) or larger, measured diagonally, and may not support access to a cellular network . Unlike laptops (which have traditionally run off operating systems usually designed for desktops), tablets usually run mobile operating systems, alongside smartphones. The touchscreen display is operated by gestures executed by finger or digital pen (stylus), instead of
9690-502: The option of connecting a conventional Keyboard and mouse. Intel announced a StrongARM processor-based touchscreen tablet computer in 1999, under the name WebPAD. It was later re-branded as the "Intel Web Tablet". In 2000, Norwegian company Screen Media AS and the German company Dosch & Amand Gmbh released the "FreePad". It was based on Linux and used the Opera browser . Internet access
9804-534: The popularity of mobile gaming , the gambling industry started offering casino games on mobile devices, which led to the inclusion of these devices in the anti-hazard legislature as devices that could potentially be used for illegal gambling. Additional potentially unlawful actions could encompass the utilization of mobile devices in disseminating explicit material involving minors. Moreover, the legitimate adult entertainment sector's incorporation of mobile apps and technology to advance its operations raises concerns. There
9918-542: The release of the mobile-focused and comparatively power-efficient 32-bit ARM610 processor originally designed for the Apple Newton in 1993 and ARM3-using Acorn A4 laptop in 1992. The chip was adopted by Psion, Palm and Nokia for PDAs and later smartphones, camera phones, cameras, etc. ARM's licensing model supported this success by allowing device manufacturers to license, alter and fabricate custom SoC derivatives tailored to their own products. This has helped manufacturers extend battery life and shrink component count along with
10032-604: The reverse, and run only mobile apps. They can use battery life conservatively because the processor is significantly smaller. This allows the battery to last much longer than the common laptop. In Q1 2018, Android tablets had 62% of the market, Apple's iOS had 23.4% of the market and Windows 10 had 14.6% of the market. In late 2021, iOS has 55% use worldwide (varies by continent, e.g. below 50% in South America and Africa) and Android 45% use. Still, Android tablets have more use than iOS in virtually all countries, except for e.g.
10146-405: The size of devices. The multiple licensees ensured that multiple fabricators could supply near-identical products, while encouraging price competition. This forced unit prices down to a fraction of their x86 equivalents. The architecture has historically had limited support from Microsoft, with only Windows CE available, but with the 2012 release of Windows 8, Microsoft announced added support for
10260-512: The slate format. Nokia had plans for an Internet tablet since before 2000. An early model was test manufactured in 2001, the Nokia M510, which was running on EPOC and featuring an Opera browser, speakers and a 10-inch 800×600 screen, but it was not released because of fears that the market was not ready for it. Nokia entered the tablet space in May 2005 with the Nokia 770 running Maemo ,
10374-467: The tablet market, ARM Ltd. 's ARM architecture and Intel's and AMD's x86 . Intel's x86, including x86-64 has powered the "IBM compatible" PC since 1981 and Apple's Macintosh computers since 2006. The CPUs have been incorporated into tablet PCs over the years and generally offer greater performance along with the ability to run full versions of Microsoft Windows , along with Windows desktop and enterprise applications. Non-Windows based x86 tablets include
10488-401: The tablet was conceptualized in the middle of the 20th century ( Stanley Kubrick depicted fictional tablets in the 1968 science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey ) and prototyped and developed in the last two decades of that century. In 2010, Apple released the iPad , the first mass-market tablet to achieve widespread popularity. Thereafter, tablets rapidly rose in ubiquity and soon became
10602-472: The time of its release. iPads and competing devices were tested by the U.S. military in 2011 and cleared for secure use in 2013. Its debut in 2010 pushed tablets into the mainstream. Samsung 's Galaxy Tab and others followed, continuing the trends towards the features listed above. In March 2012, PC Magazine reported that 31% of U.S. Internet users owned a tablet, used mainly for viewing published content such as video and news. The top-selling line of devices
10716-935: The touchscreen ("2-in-1 convertible") or detachable ("2-in-1 detachable"). 2-in-1s typically also can display a virtual keyboard on their touchscreens when their physical keyboards are concealed or detached. Some 2-in-1s have processors and operating systems like those of laptops, such as Windows 10 , while having the flexibility of operation as a tablet. Further, 2-in-1s may have typical laptop I/O ports, such as USB 3 and DisplayPort , and may connect to traditional PC peripheral devices and external displays. Simple tablets are mainly used as media consumption devices, while 2-in-1s have capacity for both media consumption and content creation , and thus 2-in-1s are often called laptop or desktop replacement computers . There are two species of 2-in-1s: Some tablets are modified by adding physical gamepad buttons such as D-pad and thumb sticks for better gaming experience combined with
10830-422: The two most popular brands were Ziosk and Presto . The devices have been criticized by servers who claim that some restaurants determine their hours based on customer feedback in areas unrelated to service. Any device that can display text on a screen may act as an E-reader . While traditionally E-readers are designed primarily for the purpose of reading digital e-books and periodicals, modern E-readers that use
10944-480: The use of handheld devices that combine video, audio, and on-screen drawing capabilities to enable multi-party conferencing in real-time, independent of location. Handheld computers are available in a variety of form factors, including smartphones , handheld PDAs , ultra-mobile PCs and tablet computers ( Palm OS , WebOS ). Users can watch television through the Internet by IPTV on some mobile devices. Mobile television receivers have existed since 1960, and, in
11058-518: The use of the cloud . Although a common form of mobile device, a smartphone, has a display, another perhaps even more common form of smart computing device, the smart card , e.g., used as a bank card or travel card, does not have a display. This mobile device often has a CPU and memory but needs to connect or be inserted into a reader to display its internal data or state. There are many kinds of mobile devices, designed for different applications. They include, but are not limited to: The history of
11172-557: The world, and to the key technology partners, suppliers, innovation and human resources needed as it continues to grow, domestically and internationally. AT&T Inc. previously relocated its corporate headquarters to San Antonio from St. Louis, Missouri, in 1992, when it was then named Southwestern Bell Corporation. The company's Telecom Operations group, which serves residential and regional business customers in 22 U.S. states, remains in San Antonio. Atlanta, Georgia, continues to be
11286-582: Was Apple's iPad with 100 million sold between its release in April 2010 and mid-October 2012, but iPad market share (number of units) dropped to 36% in 2013 with Android tablets climbing to 62%. Android tablet sales volume was 121 million devices, plus 52 million, between 2012 and 2013 respectively. Individual brands of Android operating system devices or compatibles follow iPad with Amazon's Kindle Fire with 7 million, and Barnes & Noble's Nook with 5 million. The BlackBerry PlayBook
11400-600: Was a bidder in the proposed sale of Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment, purchased the mobile gaming studio Playdemic from WBIE for US$ 1.4 billion in June 2021. In September 2021, Fox Corporation acquired TMZ from WarnerMedia in a deal worth about $ 50 million with TMZ being operated under the Fox Entertainment division. On December 21, 2021, AT&T announced that they had agreed to sell Xandr (and AppNexus ) to Microsoft for an undisclosed price. The deal
11514-594: Was announced in September 2010 that ran the BlackBerry Tablet OS . The BlackBerry PlayBook was officially released to US and Canadian consumers on April 19, 2011. Hewlett-Packard announced that the TouchPad , running WebOS 3.0 on a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU, would be released in June 2011. On August 18, 2011, HP announced the discontinuation of the TouchPad, due to sluggish sales. In 2013,
11628-501: Was completed in June 2022. On April 8, 2022, the spinoff of WarnerMedia and its subsequent merger with Discovery, Inc. to form Warner Bros. Discovery was completed. As a result of this merger, HBO Max and other video services were dropped from AT&T's unlimited plan offering. AT&T was one of several clients of Snowflake Inc. that had data stolen in a 2024 breach. Phone and text logs from May 1, 2022 to October 31, 2022 of "nearly all" AT&T customers were exposed as part of
11742-480: Was highly hyped by the media during the early 1990s. Microsoft , the dominant PC software vendor, released Windows for Pen Computing in 1992 to compete against PenPoint OS. The company launched the WinPad project, working together with OEMs such as Compaq , to create a small device with a Windows -like operating system and handwriting recognition. However, the project was abandoned two years later; instead Windows CE
11856-479: Was one of the companies created by the breakup of AT&T Corp. The company soon started a series of acquisitions, including the 1987 acquisition of Metromedia mobile business and the acquisition of several cable companies in the early 1990s. In the latter half of the 1990s, the company acquired several other telecommunications companies, including two Baby Bells ( Pacific Telesis Group and Ameritech Corporation ), while selling its cable business. During this time,
11970-417: Was originally limited to E-reading capabilities; however, an update to their Kindle firmware added the ability to browse the Internet and play audio, allowing Kindles to be alternatives to a traditional tablet, in some cases, with a more readable e-ink panel and greater battery life, and providing the user with access to wider multimedia capabilities compared to the older model. Two major architectures dominate
12084-599: Was proposed, but ultimately abandoned due to COVID-19 pandemic -related growth in the video gaming industry, as well as a positive reception to upcoming DC Comics , Lego Star Wars , and Harry Potter titles from fans and critics. Crunchyroll was sold to Sony 's Funimation for US$ 1.175 billion in December 2020, with the acquisition closing in August 2021. On February 25, 2021, AT&T announced that it would spin-off DirecTV, U-Verse TV, and DirecTV Stream into
12198-571: Was provided by DECT DMAP, only available in Europe and provided up to 10 Mbit/s. The device had 16 MB storage, 32 MB of RAM and x86 compatible 166 MHz "Geode"-Microcontroller by National Semiconductor . The screen was 10.4" or 12.1" and was touch sensitive. It had slots for SIM cards to enable support of television set-up box. FreePad were sold in Norway and the Middle East; but
12312-535: Was released in the form of " Handheld PCs " in 1996. That year, Palm, Inc. released the first of the Palm OS based PalmPilot touch and stylus based PDA, the touch based devices initially incorporating a Motorola Dragonball (68000) CPU. Also in 1996 Fujitsu released the Stylistic 1000 tablet format PC, running Microsoft Windows 95 , on a 100 MHz AMD486 DX4 CPU, with 8 MB RAM offering stylus input, with
12426-428: Was reported that AT&T planned to launch a new cable TV-like service for delivery over-the-top over its own or a competitor's broadband network sometime the following year. On March 7, 2018, the company prepared to sell a minority stake of DirecTV Latin America through an IPO , creating a new holding company for those assets named Vrio Corp. On April 18, just a day before the public debut of Vrio, AT&T canceled
12540-503: Was reworked to include more tablet features. Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) , released in 2011 and later versions support larger screen sizes, mainly tablets, and have access to the Google Play service. Android includes operating system, middleware and key applications. Other vendors sell customized Android tablets, such as Kindle Fire and Nook , which are used to consume mobile content and provide their own app store, rather than using
12654-406: Was the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), established in 1885. On December 30, 1899, AT&T acquired the assets of its parent American Bell Telephone, becoming the new parent company. AT&T established a network of local telephone subsidiaries in the United States. AT&T and its subsidiaries held a phone service monopoly , authorized in 1913 by government authorities with
12768-565: Was the Archos 5, a pocket-sized model with a 5-inch touchscreen , that was first released with a proprietary operating system and later (in 2009) released with Android 1.4. The Camangi WebStation was released in Q2 2009. The first LTE Android tablet appeared late 2009 and was made by ICD for Verizon . This unit was called the Ultra, but a version called Vega was released around the same time. Ultra had
12882-418: Was the fourteenth-largest donor to United States federal political campaigns and committees from 1989 to 2019, having contributed more than US$ 84.1 million , 42% of which went to Republicans and 58% of which went to Democrats . In 2005, AT&T was among 53 entities that contributed the maximum of $ 250,000 to the second inauguration of President George W. Bush . Bill Leahy, representing AT&T, sits on
12996-543: Was then adopted by the UBports as a community project. As of February 2014, 83% of mobile app developers were targeting tablets, but 93% of developers were targeting smartphones. By 2014, around 23% of B2B companies were said to have deployed tablets for sales-related activities, according to a survey report by Corporate Visions. The iPad held majority use in North America, Western Europe, Japan, Australia, and most of
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