AT&T to start sending text ads to phones based on location

NEW YORK - In a first for a wireless carrier, AT&T Inc. saidMonday that it will use its phones' location-sensing ability totarget text ads with coupons and other offers to participatingsubscribers in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco.

Kmart, part of Sears Holdings Corp., is one of the chains thathave signed up for "ShopAlerts by AT&T." That means AT&T could senddiscount offers to subscribers who are close to a Kmart store.

AT&T is only able to locate its subscribers to within a mile orso, so its ability to sense that subscribers are in a receptive moodfor the offer - like when they're heading to shop - is limited. Theservice locates …