CES 2012 may have been a dire point for Microsoft, but some of its upcoming products are boosting AT&T’s lineup.

One of the most anticipated presentations of the event is the Nokia Lumia 900, and their collaboration with AT&T.  The Nokia Lumia 900 is the latest smartphone from the Finnish camp, and will be released in the U.S. through AT&T’s network.

In practice, the event will be dictated by Microsoft partnership with Nokia, which is becoming more pronounced over time. The new smartphone features a 4.3 inches display, a front-facing camera that’s Skype ready, and the body may be of the same plastic already used with the Nokia 800 Lumia.  The operating system will not have Tango, but will remain with the Windows Phone version 7.5 Mango.

“AT&T is playing a critical role in our reentry strategy to the United states,” Nokia Chief Executive Stephen Elop told the audience at AT&T’s event.

Building out a mobile platform

At the AT&T press conference, the wireless provider presents an interesting initiative, introducing a development platform for smartphones and developers.  They’re now able to directly receive platform access from the mobile operators to produce their own apps.

The apps will be independent of the platform because they are based on HTML5. AT&T will provide the tools for developers and a platform to build the apps on iPhones, Android phones, and Windows Phones and BlackBerry phones.

“It’s essentially a rich set of APIs and tools aimed at furthering the HTML5 appeal as an app development choice,” said David Christopher, chief marketing officer at AT&T. “Why are we focusing on HTML5? We think it has the potential to address fragmentation.”

Beyond Nokia

The company also introduces Watson speech recognition technology to the cars, providing a direct competition to Panasonic and QNX. The cloud connected device car technology will respond to your voice command to control the GPS or change radio channel.

Here are some other developments at AT&T event, including the seven new smartphone and tablet devices set to launch early this year:

–         New devices include Samsung Exhilarate, Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket HD, Sony Xperia Ion, Pantech Burst, the Pantech Element tablet, and the Samsung Galaxy Note smartphone/tablet hybrid.

–         Sony introduced the new Xperia Ion, the company’s first smartphone capable of operating in 4G LTE network – and for now, the only U.S. operator is AT&T.

–         The telecom company announced the battle plans for subscriptions PS Vita. The 250 MB download limit will be available at $14.99 per month and 2GB limit at $25 per month. In addition to the 3G network access, subscribers will also have access to some 29 000 Wifi Hotspots in the country.