Next time a bartender draws a long, cool German brew on tap at your favorite U.S. bar, you might be sipping beer that made a mobile phone call along the way.
At the Reuters Technology Summit in New York, AT&T’s Ralph de la Vega, who heads its wireless division, described a firm that has fitted its beer with mobile devices.

“We had a customer in Germany that wanted us — and we have found a way — to track their beer kegs as they were shipped,” said de la Vega. He said the wireless devices track how cold the keg is, whether it was properly pressurized and its location.

“It helps to run their business better,” he said of the beer company. AT&T uses the GSM system, which is the same one used in Europe, has roaming agreements with European carriers, and bills its client for the calls. De la Vega said that’s only the beginning.

“You’re going to have more and more devices connected to our network than you ever have before,” he said, including everything from cameras to recorders.

De la Vega showed off two small Netbook portable computers that have built-in wireless device. They will be sold at AT&T stores across the country by mid-summer, with AT&T picking up part of the cost for customers who take a long-term contract — the same way most mobile phones are sold in the United States.

As for the beer, de la Vega wouldn’t say what brand had contracted with his company. So when you drink a German beer on tap in the United States, you might wonder if it’s the one that phoned home.

AT&T says it sees a lot of promise for the netbook and the connection fees that come with the devices as a growing source of revenue as consumers look to take broadband connectivity on the road. But will consumers be as enthusiatic to sign another contract for the service? Click below to hear AT&T’s President of Mobile & Consumer Markets talk about what he sees as the future of the netbook.

AT&T: Netbook popularity on the rise from Reuters TV on Vimeo.

AT&T is an official sponsor of the U.S. Olympic team, which generally makes for great brand building. This year, however, marketing promises to be a little more complicated because of political tensions. Look no further than the protests that accompanied the international torch relay.

This led us to ask Chief Financial Officer Rick Lindner about whether they’ve changed their minds about their Olympic advertising.

We certainly talk about our Olympics sponsorship. The key message we try to convey to people, particularly those that may have concerns, is that we’re not sponsoring the games. We’re sponsoring our Olympic team. That’s where our dollars and commitment goes. It’s the right place.

It’s sponsoring those athletes that are going to be competing. We’ve got to do a good job of communicating our position. We feel we’re doing the right things. I’m not aware that we’ve made any changes to our plans from an advertising standpoint.