By Last week AT&T announced that they want to “Rethink Possible” with a new company image moving forward. Part of this new campaign involved rolling out a few new commercials that you may have caught in rotation already. Now AT&T is opting to let go of their Verizon-bashing (for now) by ending it’s comparison ads, and hopefully Luke Wilson’s stint as spokesman along with them.
AT&T is instead going the route of showcasing their own products rather than the flaws of another company’s. This will still include many of the same advertising staples we have seen lately — such as surfing the web and talking on the phone simultaneously — but only presented with a positive slant towards AT&T rather than a negative slant towards Verizon. For the time being Verizon is dedicated to pumping more money into their “There’s a Map for That” ads (there is one on the TV as I write this), however, so the bitter battle will still continue.
I am in support of and respect AT&T’s move for opting to take the higher road and leaving the bickering behind them (though I suspect their specific reason for the switch was calculated to gain that opinion from people like me who are tired of all of the negative advertising). Verizon’s map is impressive, but they could take a page from AT&T’s book.
Both carriers offer Android phones, and it’s no secret the negative ad battle was spurred on by the initial folly of “Droid Does” ads aimed at the iPhone and it’s exclusive carrier. I’m sure there are opinions over which sports the better handsets, but with AT&T releasing locked down Androids and limiting the App market on their devices they haven’t gained the unanimous support of Android aficionados just yet.
“Both carriers offer their fair share of Android phones”
I may have missed something, but isn’t AT&T’s only Android the crippled (can’t install non-market apps) Backflip?
Let em fight. We watch folk hit each other with the force of a car wreck on a football field and then turn soft when two companies sling ads at each other? Let them go at it and show us just why one is supposedly better than the other.
–
AT&T backed out not to take the high road but because they don’t have much to fight with. They talk about being able to talk on the phone at the same time as using the internet but whats that to Verizon’s counter of being able to use apps at the same time? I do much more of the latter than the former.
I stringly disagree. Verizon has completely taken the high road, just as AT&T has with their respective new advertising. Verizon is no longer bashing any other specific network, is no longer saying “5X more 3G than AT&T” or even “More than AT&T”, they have now opted to show just how much coverage THEY have. The ads don’t even say “There’s a map for that” anymore. I may be Verizon biased, but the author of this article is extremely biased toward a company that has skewered our OS of choice. /rant
They not only close the OPEN Android environment, they also put AT&T bloatware on the devices that cannot be removed. If only they would take the route of other carriers such as Verizon, and put them in their distinct section of the Android Market. Because it’s the right thing to do.
@onlyever
Actually I am skewed towards Verizon, in my attempt to maybe sound unbiased to AT&T users I may have been a bit harsh towards VZW. Their service rocks, and their maps really are better, lol.
Ummm… I thought that sony ericsson and google released android phones for use on at&t??? Nexus one and Experia X10???
its because AT&T was loosing the fight
The bad part about this fight is that neither my wife or I can stand Luke Wilson anymore. He was one of my favorite actors (Old School, Idiocracy, etc), but now he just sounds like a bitter punk.
At&t did not release the Nexus One. Google released it as unsubsidised but unlocked and Open. Google gets all the credit; at&t had nothing to do with it. The at&t androids are crippled by them. And all at&t phones are loaded with crapware. I like their network and do surf and talk for work often. But their phones are crap.
ha – agreed @hank.
@Kevin Krause lol Haha. I read the article and I automatically thought “AT&T fanboy!!!”. Haha, I guess I should get off my haterade patches. o_O
Personally I think AT&T should drop the exclusive rights to the iphone and adopt every new Android phone made available to them. I’m sure Apple has something in the contract thats keeping AT&T from snagging a huge share of the Android market since the Backflop seems to be a joke of a phone to snag a few customers before the next update to the iphone. The map battle between these two companies is LAME! they both cover the coasts where most of the people are anyways and who gives a rats ass about the middle part of the country where the smaller local cellular companies are probably cheaper anyways and most likely use the same towers. Right now on Sprint thanks to no roaming charges if I lose my service from one of their towers my phone hops onto the better AT&T towers!
In the end if AT&T had a full range of Android phones and reworked their lame ass ‘iphone plans’ with competitive pricing, they would command a larger share of the mobile market.
@eng
Sprint cant use att towers.
My how things have changed when it’s AT&T you’re talking about loading their phones with junk and Verizon sets the bar for openness….
@Iowa
If you really want to get technical, Sprint can…sorta. A small part of AT&T’s network is made of CDMA towers. They obviously don’t use it for their network but instead use it to make money from people using phone/data roaming. They got these towers via purchasing other companies over the years.
Verizon actually has the same situation; they have some GSM towers as well that they use for no other reason than roaming for other carriers. So does Sprint (w/GSM), T-Mo (w/CDMA) and I think even Metro PCS and Cricket.
There was some talk a couple of years ago about companies passing ownership of these towers to companies that were using the bands (e.g. AT&T would give Verizon their CDMA towers in West Virginia in exchange for Verizon’s GSM towers in Montana), but the plan was ultimately scuttled because owning the roaming towers was too lucrative for one of the four (though I forget which one bowed out).
AT&T is a one trick pony with one big ticket item, the iphone. Unfortunately it is because of this that they are getting beaten to death. Android is fast becoming the platform of choice for both carriers and handset makers. AT&T introduced the Backflip which isn’t a bad device but the inability to uninstall the AT&T bloatware kills it. You can still install non-market apps through the ADB console but not many people do this. For AT&T to join the rest of the big boys in the upcoming “smartphone wars” they need to bring Android handsets that aren’t locked down. Otherwise I don’t see AT&T doing all too much.
Verizon’s ads were brilliant…but it’s time to move on and it looks like they are doing that by focusing on OS’s. AT&T had to drop there counter attack b/c it just wasn’t working with Luke. He made the ads look pathetic. But it’s not just Luke…Nothing, and I mean NOTHING AT&T does will ever get me back as a customer.
I’m glad that this is coming to an end. Quite honestly, I can’t keep straight which company’s ad I’m viewing when they are so similar. As a result, I want nothing to do with either one.
Always better to point out how you’ll benefit a customer instead of how they’ll be screwed by the competition…especially when the competition is saying the same exact thing!