AT&T renaming Cingular AT&T, former AT&T users' do double take

With all the mergers and name changes that AT&T has gone through in the past 10 years or so, it's a wonder that they (whoever "they" even is these days when it comes to AT&T) still think that the brand has enough legs to do better than "Cingular." I almost disagree. "AT&T Wireless" has always connoted "2nd-tier wireless carrier" to me, but then what do I know.

That whole "2nd Tier" rap, if it's there, certainly isn't going to be helped by plans to "begin selling ads on mobile phones." Thanks, no.

*-- It will begin selling AT&T-branded wireless services to its large pool of corporate phone and Internet customers, allowing it to offer discounts for bundles that were impossible when Cingular was a separate entity. Quadruple play, as they say in the lingo.
-- AT&T also will begin selling ads on mobile phones, TV and its Internet-access service this year, allowing advertisers to reach consumers across multiple platforms with a single operator.
-- AT&T plans to transition the Cingular and BellSouth brands to its own moniker this year. Ads will begin mid-January under the slogan “Cingular is now the new AT&T”; the BellSouth brand will begin to be phased out this week. *

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