AT&T: both HSPA+ and LTE are ’4G,’ 20 such devices planned for this year

AT&T Mobility boss Ralph de la Vega said at the carrier’s Developer Summit in Vegas today that he considers both LTE and HSPA+ to be 4G technologies — the same philosophy expounded by T-Mobile that’s heavy on marketing and light on facts — and that they’ll be launching 20 such devices in 2011. The first half of the year looks to be heavy on HSPA+ fare, while the second half — following AT&T’s initial LTE launch in mid-2011 — will start to see the LTE stuff come online. A confusing message to be sure — but hey, as long as those 20 devices are fast and awesome, we’ll let it slide.