Today, AT&T (NYSE: T) hosted a press conference to catch all the reporters up to speed on the carrier’s recent initiatives, and once the faucet started to open, the news really poured out. Nothing was astronomically startling or important, but Ralph de la Vega, AT&T Mobility’s president, spoke openly and candidly about several hot topics facing the industry right now. Some excerpts:

-- The 3G iPhone: In the Q&A, a reporter asked de la Vega if more of the carrier’s phones going forward would be on the 3G network. For instance, the Blackberry Pearl and Curve run on the EDGE network, while competitors like Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and Sprint (NYSE: S) have the same devices running on the faster EV-DO networks. De la Vega said within months all of the carrier’s smartphones will be on the 3G network. Another reporter quickly asked if that included the iPhone. De la Vega, smiled and answered: “I’m talking about months for all the integrated devices to be 3G, and I mean months. I think that should be clear enough.”

-- Google’s Android OS: On the issue of operating systems, de la Vega said the company wants to give the customer choices, which means offering Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT), Blackberry, iPhone, Symbian, and others if necessary. He said he recently spent some time looking at Google’s Android operating system while at Mobile World Congress and later directly with Google (NSDQ: GOOG). “I wanted to know more before I passed judgment,” he said, and after evaluation, “Google is opening up and letting you customize what it looks like, I think it’s a good option and will offer it to customers if it makes sense.” In further questioning, he said he likes it a lot more then he did before: “it is truly open… there’s still work to be done,” but it’s likely to be in the carrier’s portfolio.

-- Unlimited Pricing Plans: I asked de la Vega what he though of Sprint’s “Simply Everything” plan, that not only includes unlimited voice minutes, but also unlimited data, including services like navigation and TV. He said so far, there’s been a very few number of people that have signed up for AT&T’s $99 unlimited voice plans—in fact about as many people bumped up as the number of people who bumped down. But in general, he said he doesn’t feel like he has to match the lowest priced provider in the market: “We are about great quality and coverage, we are not a low-priced play.” De la Vega continued that he was very proud of his marketing team to be able to come out and match Verizon’s $99 plan “within hours to make it into the same news cycle.” I asked if he was willing to match Verizon’s plan, why not Sprint’s? The answer was not that nice: he said because “Verizon is a high-quality player.”

-- Microsoft Surface: The real reason to get us all there was to show off the fancy new Microsoft Surface technology that it will be rolling out into four markets starting April 17. In a demonstration, the person was able to put a device on to the table and identify that it was a Samsung Blackjack II and that it had a variety of features. They were then able to compare that side by side to another device. Robbie Bach, Microsoft’s president of entertainment and devices, was there to talk about the technology from Microsoft’s point of view. He also had to answer the uncomfortable question as to why AT&T was rolling it out first—when T-Mobile first said it would do so when Surface was unveiled. He said they continue to work with T-Mobile but AT&T worked aggressively to launch it first. 

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