AT&T revamped the Innovations Center store in Arlington Heights,...
AT&T revamped the Innovations Center store in Arlington Heights, Ill., to feature its first Digital Life-dedicated showroom, store staffers told us. The back half of the 10,200-square-foot store was renovated in recent months to display the home security and automation…
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platform in kitchen, home office and living room settings, store staffers said. AT&T expects to have Digital Life available in 50 markets by year-end. The interactive display, which is stocked with tablets, smartphones and AT&T’s U-verse service, is designed to demonstrate Digital Life, which is available in packages carrying $29 and $39 monthly fees. The packages also carry $150 and $250 equipment costs for sensors, thermostats and other products, although the latter was recently discounted $100, store employees said. All Digital Life rooms in the store are equipped with the energy package, which enables homeowners to control their appliances, lighting and thermostats from any location, store staffers said. The Arlington Heights location, more than double the size of AT&T’s standard stores, opened in November 2011 and is frequently used to debut new technologies, said store staff. AT&T has about 2,300 retail stores. Susan Johnson, senior vice president-investor relations, declined to comment at a Goldman Sachs investor conference last week on whether AT&T would expand Digital Life displays to other locations. Meanwhile, AT&T will likely convert its more than 240 Aio no-contract service stores to Leap Wireless’s Cricket banner, once its proposed $1.2 billion acquisition of Leap is complete, CEO Randall Stevenson said at the same conference. Leap shareholders are scheduled to vote on the company’s proposed sale to AT&T on Oct. 24 at a special shareholders meeting in Denver. AT&T launched its Aio prepaid subsidiary earlier this year starting in Houston, Orlando and Tampa. Leap operated 230 Cricket stores and had 4,350 indirect dealers as of Dec. 31, the company said. The Cricket stores range from 800 to 11,000 square feet. Leap, which sells Cricket wireless, broadband and PayGo prepaid and no contract services, had 4.83 million subscribers as of June 30, down from 5.29 million in December and 5.9 million a year earlier. Leap, which had 292 million points-of-presence including 21 million for LTE, had a wholesale agreement with Sprint for network access.