First AT&T Wireless became Cingular, now Cingular is becoming AT&T again. Wait…what? Why are they changing their name again? Well for starters AT&T has been a household name for over 125 years. They have locked down their branding, and everyone knows who they are. They have been the largest phone company, the largest cable television operator, and they are one of the largest employers with over one million employees.

In 2004 they merged with Cingular, and consumers no longer saw the letters AT&T associated with cell phone services. In 2005, they merged again with SBC to become the leading phone company service in the Midwest, then again in 2006 they merged with Bell South. How does one keep all these big company mergers straight? But they are back in the wireless game again, and you soon won’t be seeing any Cingular phones or stores around your neighborhood.

They have a plan on how they are going to launch themselves, and it’s happening in two phases.

1. In the first phase, cell phones and cell phone services marketed by this new partnership will be offered under the combined brand AT&T Cingular. This will help wireless customers get accustomed to this change and learn to identify the two brands as one.

2. In the second phase, the name Cingular will be dropped, leaving the new AT&T name as the only brand for this company’s cell phones and wireless services.

Source: Wirefly.com

I think it’s a good move. AT&T is a highly branded name, and like I said, everyone knows, and trust them already. They should be very successful in gaining back the cell phone industry. Hopefully with all their company mergers, they will come out with some pretty high tech new AT&T cell phones and wireless gadgets. They’ve definitely got the knowledge behind them.

AT&T, Cingular, cell phones