3 ms·

> It's worth noting that AT&T was the exclusive carrier for the first iPhone. That was a happy accident due to the acquisition of Cingular by AT&T

• giantrobot 4y ago
  Which was just AT&T Wireless' re-brand. Which sucked for me. I had moved to T-Mobile from AT&T due to their shitty service. Then Apple gave all full-time employees an iPhone the summer of its release. I had to go back to AT&^H^H^H Cingular in order to use the phone. Back into the cold embrace of AT&T's crappy service and support.
  • toast0 4y ago
    It's more complex than that. AT&T Wireless, launched in 1987 under another name, was invested in by post breakup AT&T in 1992 and merged into AT&T in 1994, and then spun off in 2001. Cingular was mostly Southwestern Bell and a couple more baby bells (SBC) and Bell South. In 2004, Cingular bought AT&T wireless and merged it under the Cingular Brand. In 2005, SBC bought the rest of AT&T. In 2006, SBC bought Bell South and therefore owned the whole Cingular, and rebranded it as AT&T. In 2007, when the iPhone was released, you would have been forced to deal with "the new AT&T", but when you left, you were probably dealing with "the old AT&T", they both suck, but differently. :)
    • giantrobot 4y ago
      I knew there was some Baby Bell history I was eliding. I remember a long time ago in a Wired (I think) there was a two page spread with the convoluted family trees of the various national cellular providers. It was very convoluted.