Sleight of brand
Item via Daring Fireball: Comcast Rebranding as ‘Xfinity’
- Philadelphia Inquirer: Comcast unveils new brand name and logo
Comcast Corp. said yesterday that it would re-brand its TV, Internet, and telephone services as Xfinity on Feb. 12 to signal to customers that this isn’t the same old company. [...]
This re-branding comes as Comcast has struggled to rebuild its reputation because of poor service and problems with its network that resulted in telephone and Internet outages. Its customer-satisfaction rating is among the lowest in the industry, but it has improved slightly in the last year. Comcast spokeswoman Jennifer Khoury said the re-branding was not an attempt to distance the service from the Comcast name. “This is about our product. It is about providing our customers with products that just keep getting better.”
If it’s about improving the product, then improve the product. This is a name change. To claim otherwise is lying.
As a longtime Comcast customer who is tensed and ready to jump ship the moment Verizon FiOS comes to my neighborhood, I can only say I’m not surprised. As John Gruber said: “Many companies walk away from household name brands just for kicks. Sure.”
(Daring Fireball is my number one source for informative links and Mac/tech commentary. I read it every day. John Gruber, the author, is very much a man after my own heart.)