After Cingular Wireless completes its purchase of AT&T Wireless this year, AT&T Corp. will begin a new wireless phone service using the network operated by rival Sprint Corp.
If that sounds confusing, it’s part of the plan.
AT&T Corp. has a “window of opportunity to take advantage of the confusion to win as many customers as they can,” said Michael Grossi, a consultant with Boston-based Adventis. “Confusion is absolutely the cornerstone of AT&T’s strategy.”
Wow. This is going to be painful. AT&T Wireless will cease to exist as a brand, folding in to the Cingular brand. Almost immediately, AT&T the parent company that spun off the AT&T the wireless company a few years ago will start offering service on Sprint’s network.
That’s so wrong.
It’s going to confuse the crap out of consumers, and they’re banking on it. It’s a shame that the current AT&T Wireless (soon to be just another part of Cingular Wireless) is spending a chunk of change on its GSM America ad campaign. They’re pretty much campaigning for the other guy at this point. It’s a shame too, because the ad campaign (at least the ad I’ve seen on TV) looks pretty good, the plans and coverage sound good, everything is solid. I just don’t see the merit in prolonging and strengthening the AT&T Wireless brand any more at this point. Wouldn’t those ad dollars be better spent strengthening the Cingular brand that they will so soon be a part of?
Neither AT&T makes any sense to me.