Well, you have to give AT&T some credit. They are trying really hard to make sure they don’t succumb to a massive hemorrhage of users when the Verizon iPhone hits in a couple of days. Today, they’ve been sending out emails to current customers with the following subject line: Feel free to make a call while reading this email.
Very clever. This, of course, plays up the fact that while the AT&T iPhone can support both data and voice at the same time, the Verizon iPhone can’t (due to current CDMA limitations).
The body of the email has a woman using her phone with a Bluetooth headset. She’s clearly talking to someone while surfing the web at the same time as there’s a speech bubble saying “I’m online buying movie tickets now. Is the 3 o’clock showing okay?” Below that, there’s this statement: “Only AT&T’s network lets you talk and surf the web at the same time on your iPhone.”
And below that, just one more jab: “On the nation’s fastest mobile broadband network.”
But best of all, AT&T also includes a coupon in the email for current customers to get 25 percent off any mobile accessory at an AT&T store. If you can’t earn their love. Buy their love.
The Verizon iPhone launches on Thursday exclusively for current Verizon customers. It will launch next Thursday for everyone else — meaning, potentially millions of AT&T customers. You can probably expect more of these types of ads and campaigns until then.