Comments on: See ya Cingular, yo AT&T http://gigaom.com/2007/05/21/goodbye-cingular-hello-cue-att/ Trusted Insights and Conversations on the Next Wave of Technology Thu, 26 Nov 2009 06:47:41 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Roxann http://gigaom.com/2007/05/21/goodbye-cingular-hello-cue-att/#comment-103714 Roxann Fri, 25 May 2007 02:40:41 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2007/05/21/goodbye-cingular-hello-cue-att/#comment-103714 <p>I have to admit, I'm going to miss the Cingular Jack. I've been working as a manager with National Business Services for almost a year now, and since AT&T started changing the name customers are so confused. Some of the reference us as "Cingular, AT&T or whoever you are now". Cingular put so much effort into changing AT&T's wireless to Cingular, I think it was a horrible business move to change it right back to AT&T.</p> I have to admit, I’m going to miss the Cingular Jack. I’ve been working as a manager with National Business Services for almost a year now, and since AT&T started changing the name customers are so confused. Some of the reference us as “Cingular, AT&T or whoever you are now”. Cingular put so much effort into changing AT&T’s wireless to Cingular, I think it was a horrible business move to change it right back to AT&T.

]]> By: Leo Klein http://gigaom.com/2007/05/21/goodbye-cingular-hello-cue-att/#comment-103708 Leo Klein Mon, 21 May 2007 23:09:02 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2007/05/21/goodbye-cingular-hello-cue-att/#comment-103708 <p>I think the name change in completely appropriate as it underscores that the monster cut apart during the Eighties is back together again.</p> <p>All we need now is Upton Sinclair and a couple of the other 'muckrakers' from an earlier era to document the atrocity.</p> <p>It's like old times.</p> I think the name change in completely appropriate as it underscores that the monster cut apart during the Eighties is back together again.

All we need now is Upton Sinclair and a couple of the other ‘muckrakers’ from an earlier era to document the atrocity.

It’s like old times.

]]> By: Todd http://gigaom.com/2007/05/21/goodbye-cingular-hello-cue-att/#comment-103712 Todd Mon, 21 May 2007 22:22:20 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2007/05/21/goodbye-cingular-hello-cue-att/#comment-103712 <p>The Death Star returns! Here's a brief history on Saul Bass' 1984 "globe" logo that he had tried to sell to other companies, prior to AT&T buying it, all of whom rejected it for looking too much like the fictional galactic Empire's giant space station:</p> <p>"...And Bass was ready. I've heard from more than one person that Bass had tried without success to sell a striped globe logo to several previous clients (or even "every client that came along" as one insider told me). This may not be true, but there is no doubt that Bass liked round logos with horizontal stripes: witness Continental Airlines and Minolta, to name two. But with the new AT&T, he had at last the big client ready for the big idea. Their logo would be nothing but a sphere, a circle crossed with lines modulated in width to create the illusion of dimensionality. And this client bought it, perhaps because like the bell, this new, seemingly abstract image had a reassuringly literal meaning; at AT&T's online brand center, the logo is described as "a world circled by electronic communications." It's not just a logo, it's a picture of a globe girded by wires and cables. Some people saw even more: in some circles, the sphere was nicknamed the "The Death Star."</p> <p>source: http://www.designobserver.com/archives/007392.html</p> The Death Star returns! Here’s a brief history on Saul Bass’ 1984 “globe” logo that he had tried to sell to other companies, prior to AT&T buying it, all of whom rejected it for looking too much like the fictional galactic Empire’s giant space station:

“…And Bass was ready. I’ve heard from more than one person that Bass had tried without success to sell a striped globe logo to several previous clients (or even “every client that came along” as one insider told me). This may not be true, but there is no doubt that Bass liked round logos with horizontal stripes: witness Continental Airlines and Minolta, to name two. But with the new AT&T, he had at last the big client ready for the big idea. Their logo would be nothing but a sphere, a circle crossed with lines modulated in width to create the illusion of dimensionality. And this client bought it, perhaps because like the bell, this new, seemingly abstract image had a reassuringly literal meaning; at AT&T’s online brand center, the logo is described as “a world circled by electronic communications.” It’s not just a logo, it’s a picture of a globe girded by wires and cables. Some people saw even more: in some circles, the sphere was nicknamed the “The Death Star.”

source: http://www.designobserver.com/archives/007392.html

]]> By: Om Malik http://gigaom.com/2007/05/21/goodbye-cingular-hello-cue-att/#comment-103710 Om Malik Mon, 21 May 2007 20:14:01 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2007/05/21/goodbye-cingular-hello-cue-att/#comment-103710 <p>Four Play is my guess!</p> Four Play is my guess!

]]> By: JT http://gigaom.com/2007/05/21/goodbye-cingular-hello-cue-att/#comment-103706 JT Mon, 21 May 2007 17:37:56 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2007/05/21/goodbye-cingular-hello-cue-att/#comment-103706 <p>I think one of the biggest reasons AT&T is getting rid of the Cingular name is simply marketing. It'll be a lot cheaper for them to advertise all of their services in one AT&T commercial than it would be to pay for an AT&T commercial along with a Cingular commercial. Personally though, I do prefer the Cingular name and also think the jack splat logo looks better than just the blue globe.</p> I think one of the biggest reasons AT&T is getting rid of the Cingular name is simply marketing. It’ll be a lot cheaper for them to advertise all of their services in one AT&T commercial than it would be to pay for an AT&T commercial along with a Cingular commercial. Personally though, I do prefer the Cingular name and also think the jack splat logo looks better than just the blue globe.

]]> By: Jesse Kopelman http://gigaom.com/2007/05/21/goodbye-cingular-hello-cue-att/#comment-103704 Jesse Kopelman Mon, 21 May 2007 17:11:01 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2007/05/21/goodbye-cingular-hello-cue-att/#comment-103704 <p>Why all the sentimentality over Cingular? It was a good name, but so were CellularOne, Voicestream, Omnipoint, and 360 Communications. Meanwhile, how much was spent over the decades building equity into the Ninex, Bell Atlantic, Bellsouth, GTE, Ameritech, Pac Bell, and other RBOC brands that have fallen away? If the past 20 years of telco have taught us anything, no brand is forever.</p> Why all the sentimentality over Cingular? It was a good name, but so were CellularOne, Voicestream, Omnipoint, and 360 Communications. Meanwhile, how much was spent over the decades building equity into the Ninex, Bell Atlantic, Bellsouth, GTE, Ameritech, Pac Bell, and other RBOC brands that have fallen away? If the past 20 years of telco have taught us anything, no brand is forever.

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