I was aware of the ad campaign where Verizon was touting how its coverage was better than AT&T’s. To me, it was a total “duh!” because my friends who have iPhones have been complaining big time about AT&T. Anyway, I had seen the commercial dozens of times with the volume down. It wasn’t until last night that I truly got the punch line… “There’s a Map for that” was repeated often. By now, everyone should be very familiar with Apple’s “There’s an app for that…” which is heard early and often during their commercials for the iTunes Store. Very clever of Verizon.
Verizon’s message, “Before you pick a phone, pick a network,” definitely comes across. If they could only land some cooler phones. I know the BlackBerry Storm 2 is on the way. And last week, in a big announcement clearly aimed at stealing some of Microsoft’s thunder (Windows Mobile 6.5 was officially unveiled), Verizon said they will be adding two Google Android-based phones before the end of the year. Plus, analysts say they are supposed to be getting a smartphone that runs Palm’s webOS sometime early next year too.
John Paczkowski of Digital Daily (All Things Digital), made an interesting observation:
Quite the sucker punch from Verizon, and a well-timed one too. AT&T’s iPhone exclusivity deal is set to expire sometime next year. And recent reports suggest that Apple, by signing on Verizon as a second carrier partner, could double U.S. iPhone sales in the near term. Verizon (VZ) pointing a mocking finger at AT&T (T) in an ad like this certainly isn’t going to do anything to make AT&T’s negotiations with Apple (AAPL) go any more smoothly.
He’s right. And if there’s one thing I learned, its that I should watch an ad at least once with the volume up just so I can fully appreciate what’s being said and how it is being said.
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Watch the ad here:
And finally, this story comes to an end. Looks like the parties have settled per this post: http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20091202/court-dimisses-atts-lawsuit-against-verizon/.
Now if we can just be spared those Orange newspaper ads from AT&T. Even Frannie thinks this is a waste of ink.
Check out the latest (http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20091201/att-ranked-last-in-consumer-reports-best-cell-phone-service-survey/). Looks like Consumer Reports has confirmed what Verizon has been saying. Good luck with that AT&T!
This is getting silly. Every AT&T ad that I see seems so reactive and the things they claim, while interesting, don’t seem to address the 3G coverage issue — which is huge if you are planning on surfing the web and carrying on a call at the same time. Anyway, I came upon this story: Verizon, AT&T Feud Is Good For Business (http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=117794). This section was particularly interesting:
According to YouGovPolimetrix’s BrandIndex, which takes the measure of positive vs. negative talk about a certain brand, buzz for both companies has increased in the two weeks between Nov. 2 and Nov. 19. At the beginning of the period, AT&T’s buzz was at about 7.7, while Verizon’s was around 21.3. By the end of the time period, AT&T’s had risen to 14, while Verizon’s had risen to 32.3.
Interesting. If I were Apple, I’d stay out of this.
Truth hurts! That’s Verizon’s response to the lawsuit.
Check out the story here: http://tinyurl.com/yl3bvho
Here we go…
http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20091112/frostys-winter-litigation-wonderland-att-demands-verizon-pull-holiday-iphone-ads-with-full-complaint/
The holiday ads seem to be taunting. They ought to watch out because Apple’s is bound to jump in and things could get ugly.
It seems like Verizon isn’t letting a little lawsuit hold them back, the new holiday ads really go for the jugular. Now the iPhone is living in the land of misfit toys.
http://www.geek.com/articles/mobile/verizons-early-christmas-present-for-att-and-apple-three-new-must-see-adverts-2009119/
Looks like AT&T has just gotten around to suing Verizon (Nov 3)
Check out this from The Wall Street Journal:
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/11/03/att-to-verizon-theres-a-lawsuit-for-that/
And this from the SF Chronicle’s Ryan Kim:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/techchron/detail?entry_id=50905&tsp=1
Saul Hansell of the NY Times referred to it as a coloring war (of the sort you do in kindergarten:
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/att-declares-color-war-on-verizon/