Donovan also told the developers about AT&T's efforts to aid in development of mobile applications, which he believes are just beginning to proliferate. Sencha, which sponsors the conference, is a provider of application frameworks based on Web standards.

AT&T is working on making it easier for small software houses to deal with a large carrier, avoiding delays that come from being referred back and forth among different groups, Donovan said. The aim is to help get applications onto AT&T's network in one-third the time, or quickly turn down those it's not interested in, he said. "We're trying to de-clutter our organization," he said. AT&T has invested "tens of millions of dollars" in the effort, he said.

The carrier has established innovation centers in Palo Alto, California, Plano, Texas, and near Tel Aviv, Israel to work more closely with software creators, he said. The carrier wants to talk to 400 developers per year; it has met with 150 so far this year and expects to talk with 100 more this quarter.