All the major U.S. carriers are looking to get onto new devices so they can boost their data revenue, said analyst Jack Gold of J.Gold & Associates.

"AT&T had better figure out how to get it on their network instead of somebody else's," Gold said. "It's real money."

But despite carriers' eagerness to "open" their networks to new types of devices, their notion of openness may not match that of many consumers, who want to be able to use any device or application on any network, analysts said.