Verizon vs. AT&T Wireless Television Ads
Dec 6th, 2009 by Shaun Carter
I’m getting a little tired of the back and forth jousting and taunts between Verizon Wireless and AT&T over their respective cell phone coverage. For the sake of full-disclosure I am a Verizon customer via the Alltel merger.
The problem I have with these attack ads is not their frequency, it’s the claims and comparisons that are being made and disputed by the companies. AT&T set off a furor and sued Verizon when the first of the 3G coverage ads were launched. The claim was that consumers would interpret AT&T’s lack of 3G coverage as meaning there was no cell coverage in those zones. Unless the consumer is stupid (a likely possibility), then those assertions are ridiculous.
AT&T’s response to this Verizon ad compares the two services and is even more misleading than the original Verizon ads! AT&T claims to have the fastest 3G coverage – ok that’s possible but the coverage is severely limited to major urban areas as accurately conveyed in Verizon’s ad. Another claim is access to over 100,000 apps – yeah that’s great but only if you have the iPhone! The two Samsung models they peddle in the ad can’t run most of those apps! The ad also claims the ability to talk and use apps at the same time, again that is only possible with the iPhone.
The injunction sought by AT&T was denied, so they keep churning out more ads peddling the capabilities and features possible with an iPhone (without specifying that face) and then trying to sell a different type of smart phone in the end. A smart phone that doesn’t have the crippling revenue share agreement that AT&T is locked into with Apple for every iPhone activated.
This is causing me to really hate AT&T for making the assumption that I’m stupid and will buy into their marketing bullshit. While I may have been looking to find a new carrier at the end of my contract term that is approaching, I don’t think AT&T will be one of my choices.
I have an iPod Touch and love the interface, but can’t seem to get used to texting via a touch screen so I use a Blackberry Pearl. I have a love/hate relationship with my Blackberry, but that’s another story. The Droid, by Motorola, is definitely on my radar screen for my next smart phone purchase because of the combination of a touch screen and the world’s slimmest slide out QWERTY keyboard.
