AT&T has announced that it will link its connected car and smart home technologies in order to bolster its place in the fast-growing market for Internet-connected devices, a new area for the company and rivals like Verizon and Google.
The company's automation and home security service "Digital Life" and connected car service "Drive" will be integrated to allow users to control their homes from a dashboard inside their vehicles, Glenn Lurie, chief executive of AT&T Mobility said to Reuters last week before the company's announcement at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
"Once you've told your home when the car is (for instance)within 20 feet of the house to please open the garage door, put the lights on, turn the alarm off, move the thermostat up, you can have those inanimate objects, the home and your car, really taking care of you," Lurie said.
The "Drive" program can control devices in the home once the two services link up, like security cameras, coffee makers, door locks, alarm sensors, air-conditioners and windows and sensors that detect leaks from water pipes.
The $1.7 trillion U.S. wireless industry is turning for growth to connected devices since most Americans own a mobile phone.
AT&T confirmed to Reuters that it had nearly 20 million connected devices from cargo ship container sensors to cars in 2014, a 21 percent increase from the previous year. It has not revealed its revenue from its "Internet of Things" business yet.
Analysts expect big things from the "Internet of Things" business however. Connected car revenue should reach about $20 billion annually no later than 2018 from $3 billion in 2013, according to Juniper Research.
AT&T has reached deals with eight different automakers so far like Ford and General Motors on connected car services.
Users can add $10 to their monthly phone bill to share data across multiple connected devices like cars and wearables through AT&T's Mobile Share Value Plan.
AT&T added 800,000 connected cars out of 1.3 million connected devices it added to its network during the fourth quarter of 2014.
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