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Apple’s iPhone May Actually Become A Starbucks After All

Imagine waving your iPhone at your television and seeing your favorite news feeds show up on the big screen. These are just some of the ideas AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph De la Vega spoke about at the recent Web 2.0 Summit.

De La Vega talked about a lot more than the iPhone tethering plan we reported about yesterday. In his meeting with TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington, De la Vega unleashed his future visions for the iPhone, which include innovations that currently seem pretty far-fetched (if we weren’t talking about Apple and AT&T). Yes, the iPhone has managed to revolutionize the mobile industry and change the way people stay connected to family, friends and data. But, De la Vega sees much more for the device.

Before the iPhone wakes you up in the morning with its alarm clock, De la Vega says, it will have already loaded all of your daily news feeds onto the phone. It will also have already sent a wireless message to your coffee maker to get the coffee ready. While you’re sitting there drinking your coffee, he says, you might decide that you’d rather read your news on the TV screen; so with a wave of the device toward the TV, de la Vega says, you’ll send your news feeds wirelessly from the phone to the TV for reading.

Now you leave the house, and use your iPhone to lock the door on the way out. You get in the car. The iPhone starts your car. On the way to work, the iPhone continues reading your news to you using its text-to-speech function.

Later on, at your office, the iPhone initiates a conference call between you and two potential customers in Japan. On the call, when you speak English, the iPhone translates it to Japanese so that your potential customers can understand you. When they answer in Japanese, the iPhone converts their speech into English so you can understand them.

Essentially, De la Vega envisions a world in which the iPhone is not confined to a specific scenario, or real-world situation. He imagines that the device will be able to adapt to your situation at that moment, perhaps utilizing any technology that is surrounding you to enhance your experience.

While it’s easy to write ideas like this off into Star Trek land, if there were two companies that could partner to bring us closer to that vision, then Apple and AT&T have already begun. The innovative vision would most likely be taken very lightly if not being delivered by the AT&T Mobility CEO.

De la Vega continues to explain that AT&T has a lot of testing going on in its labs, specifically to integrate the iPhone with AT&T’s more advanced services and offerings. AT&T’s IPTV service (U-verse) is a TiVo like experience. Essentially, the iPhone would become a remote control for the service, and the user could control the DVR box from across the room, or across the country.

When Arrington asked De la Vega if AT&T was working on an Android phone, De la Vega stared our into the audience and remained silent. Arrington amusingly said, “Just blink once if the answer’s yes.” To no avail. Additionally, when asked about AT&T’s exclusivity deal with the iPhone, De la Vega remained just as tight-lipped saying, “I’m not blinking.” Additionally, De la Vega was asked about areas such as New York City, where AT&T’s 3G network has relatively spotty coverage. He responded by explaining that AT&T says it will begin using a new 850 MHz spectrum to deliver a clearer and strong signal, and that AT&T will be market testing femtocell technology in a few markets come 2009.

While we can’t vouch for the performance of AT&T’s network, or future plans with the iPhone, it’s nice to know that our sources regarding the iPhone tethering plan being in development, were spot on. After Gizmodo originally broke the rumor, we did some digging and were able to confirm the legitimacy of the information. All we can say is that allowing iPhone tethering for its customers, is a step in the right direction for AT&T.