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It’s so easy. (Screenshot: ZDNet)
I know that some tech companies like to pretend they’ve created something, um, innovative when they’ve merely changed its shape, its colors, or made it roll out of a box.
AT&T, though, seems to have taken this concept to slightly absurd heights.
Also: What is 5G? Everything you need to know about the new wireless revolution
It released some updated phones that sported a 5G E icon.
Those who viewed these phones must have been mightily impressed that AT&T was already offering such an exalted level of connectivity.
There was a minor snag, however. This 5G E isn’t 5G. Any type of 5G. Instead, it’s just a marginally enhanced 4G. Which isn’t, you know, 5G.
You might imagine, therefore, that the carrier’s rivals took one look at this and were forced to snort.
T-Mobile drifted onto Twitter and offered a little movie, showing how it was now offering 9G.
didn’t realize it was this easy, brb updating pic.twitter.com/dCmnd6lspH
— T-Mobile (@TMobile) January 7, 2019
The 9G logo is a little inelegant, but it makes the point.
Good marketing is supposed to make people feel good, rather than disappointed.
Perhaps AT&T hopes that merely placing the 5G icon in the corner of some phones will make customers feel they’re a little ahead of their friends.
Until, that is, they use the phone and realize that nothing has changed.
Previous and related coverage:
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