The Batttle: Verizon vs. AT&T

It is safe to say that there is a constant marketing battle between the cellular service Verizon and AT&T. The advertisements for each company are constantly changing. Recently, Verizon has been airing commercials promoting their service, and basically saying that they offer more 3G coverage across the nation. The way that they portray this difference is through the “maps”. Below, the Verizon map on the left is a map of the Unites States, and in red are the areas that Verizon’s service covers. The map on the right is the map that Verizon is portraying as AT&T’s 3G coverage. Notice that the blue color does not take up nearly as much space as the red coverage. Earlier this year, AT&T filed a lawsuit over Verizon’s “There’s a Map for That” advertisements, which featured the side by side comparison of the 3G maps.

The main issue that AT&T is claiming that these ads are misleading. AT&T says that these ad’s cause current customers and potential customers to believe that AT&T has no coverage, including cellular reception, where their 3G coverage is absent, whereas the truth is that only the 3G coverage may not be available. Verizon has been taking stabs at AT&T as their means of promoting their own products. Making AT&T look less attractive is their way of showing customers that their products are superior. These kinds of ads can severely affect AT&T’s market share. Verizon may become the dominant cellular service, and AT&T could be left in the dust…if this continues. The lawsuit over the “map” ads was dropped by AT&T because the ads were showing true facts. Verizon does have more 3G coverage, but the cellular service which AT&T is arguing is being “attacked” is not portrayed in these ads.

Other than the ads for the “maps”, Verizon also recently came out with a new phone, the Motorola Droid. The first ad they ran for the Droid was an “anti-iPhone” ad with the tag line “Droid Does”, meaning the new Droid has more applications and features than the competing phones. However, now that iPhone will be releasing software that will allow Verizon to be compatible with the iPhone, their ads took a turn. They suddenly were no longer attacking the iPhone, but now only the AT&T service.

Some say that AT&T is “making a scene” about these Verizon ads is only hurting them even further. Regardless, the battle between the competitive cellular services, Verizon and AT&T, will be ever-growing.