T-Mobile may have received a boost with its pending acquisition of MetroPCS but the company is still missing a major piece of the puzzle that will help it remain competitive: the iPhone. For a while T-Mobile had cobbled together a contingency plan of trying to entice GSM-based iPhone users into bringing their unlocked devices to T-Mobile stores for a try-out. But now TmoNews reports that T-Mobile has decided to cancel this endeavor and is now pushing a “bring your own device” campaign that doesn’t specifically mention the iPhone.
Specifically, TmoNews acquired a purported memo to employees telling them that “the Apple (AAPL) iPhone name and image can no longer be used in merchandising and collateral to drive sales and customer traffic.” The memo does say that iPhones can still be used in stores for demonstration purposes to show off the capabilities of T-Mobile’s network.
TmoNews expressed skepticism that a plain “bring your own device” campaign will be anywhere near as effective as an iPhone-centric campaign, and wonders “how they’ll work around the attraction the iPhone name presented.”
