Written by Rhodos
Monday, May 12th, 2008
AT&T has been in the game as far as I can remember. So, you would think they would use press releases and give some hint that they would be offering free Wi-Fi access to iPhone users in Starbucks stores. Instead the events played out somewhat like a child picking their first toy.
AT&T offered no mention of the new service in its February press release. Reporters in the news then moved towards Starbucks and T-Mobile parting ways.
Then, last week, without warning, AT&T turned the service on. I spotted it on April 30 when I tried to log on to my T-Mobile account and discovered an AT&T link that wasn’t there the day before. I was already thinking about how many extra shots of espresso I could buy with the $39 a month I would save.
When word started to spread about this apparent change in provider, four days later the service stopped. This then followed a few days later by AT&T changing the language on its site to include news of the free service, followed by the removal of said language.
It seems AT&T’s marketing department is asleep at the wheel, or their management is jumping the gun. What should have been a pretty satisfying debut of a new free service, turned out like a slow speed car crash in reverse.
source doc: fortune
