While the public was being informed that the ‘new’ COM, Cingular had AQUIRED ATT’s network (the oldest and largest nationwide network, the roaming network) it was actually ATT that had controlling interest in Cingular.
It would appear, now, as though it was all a scheme to return from the ashes of bankruptcy without going anywhere, really.

Ma Bell is steadfast to reunify her grip on telcom. Viva VoIP!!

The execs that have been running Cingular for the past 7 years were all part of the wireless companies from Bell South and SBC (and later AT&T Wireless). Most of the execs from the wireless companies from SBC and Bell South came from the SBC and Bell South telephone companies. Those telephone companies were all part of the “old AT&T” before the Bell breakup of the mid-80’s.

All the stuff you loved about the Cingular brand (the “jack”, rollover minutes, raising the bar) was developed and desiged by guys from SBC and Bell South (and their ad agencies) as part of a brillianty calculated effort to grab as much youth market share as possible. Why, you ask? Because their next aquisition target was AT&T Wireless, which at the time boasted a huge base of enterprise wireless customers.

1 consumer youth brand + #1 enterprise brand = #1 wireless company.

That merger was eventually designed, executed, and paid for by (drumroll please) SBC and Bell South. In other words, the new AT&T.

Now, since the “old AT&T” has merged back with SBC and Bell South (and thus Cingular) to form the “new AT&T”, all the executives are now reunited under one brand name.

Looks like AT&T is going to ditch the Cingular name after its recent acquisition of the company and, even more egregious for some, it will get rid of the amusing Cingular orange “jack;” (one blogger calls it the “Cingular bouncy guy.”) Accordin…

Verizon Wireless took over when AT&T went up for sell. If you look now, Verizon wireless is the prominent carrier for business professionals because - IT WORKS!

If you are trying to appeal to the hip and the young you are looking at the wrong place to make money. Why is Blackberry so big? because it is a solution for business.

I’m all for the “OLD” AT&T (pre 2000) service and network. Make it work and people don’t care about a hip logo!

Careful transition required in AT&T’s acquisition of BellSouth

Born from a JV between SBC & BellSouth, Cingular Wireless quickly became the first mobility brand to be relevant to the next generation of communications customers. It was distinctive, approachable, cool. And with its roll-over minutes concept, it wasn’t AT&T.

But soon it will be AT&T. Soon the friendly “jack” will be gone. Cingular will be re-branded AT&T Wireless when AT&T completes its acquisition of BellSouth.

The re-branding of Cingular and the loss of equity in the Cingular brand must be carefully considered. There is significant risk in confusing and then losing customers (Wait: I was an AT&T Wireless customer. Then I was a Cingular customer. Now I’m an AT&T Wireless customer again. But I didn’t switch carriers. Forget it: I’m calling Verizon.) and disregarding millions of dollars of brand equity.

This is not to say that Cingular should remain a stand-alone brand. Cingular needs to become part of the AT&T brand. But it should be a careful transition. AT&T has an historic opportunity to transition the equity in Cingular to the AT&T brand, in the process making the AT&T brand more relevant and more modern. A massive, over-night switch to AT&T Wireless would be a mistake.

Karl Barnhart
Managing Director
CoreBrand
kbarnhart@corebrand.com

The brand that created UNIX, and created the idea of a low cost, utility carrier that the rest of the worlds PT&T companies strived to emulate is not something to discard lightly. Especially if you are planning to launch your service in Europe, Africa or Asia.

(http://www.lilytomlin.com/video/tv/LaughIn1969/ern2veedle122969/ern2veedle.html
and most importantly:

http://www.lilytomlin.com/video/Ernestine/SNL1976/SNL1976.html)

“We don’t care, We don’t have to; We are The Phone Company”

Then lets watch them remonopolize everything and bring Telecom innovation to a crawl.

Then lets watch as they get taken apart again in our lifetime. What a waste. Of course by then, the rest of the world would have blown by us as we dwaddle in the corporate-monopolism/religious-fundamentalism, abandoning entreprenaurial innovation, science and engineering.