Hacker News Reader

I agree that the fancy legal/business structures are offputting.

On the other hand, AT&T is making a strong endorsement of the product by offering it under their name. Since the customer trusts AT&T when it comes to telephony technology, this saves a lot of money for the 'subsidiaries and affiliates' on marketing etc. AT&T saves money by not having to develop their own in-house product.

Who doesn't win here?

View on HN

Company the size of AT&T working in highly regulated areas, everything's a subsidiary for various accounting and legal reasons.

AT&T Mobile and AT&T UVerse are two different companies. They probably have different operating entities for different states, even. But they roll everything up into a single brand for ease of sales and marketing.

True, though it's interesting that you can purchase UVerse at an AT&T Mobility store. (I have a friend who's an AT&T store manager) While it has the appearance of being one company, I guess it's the rough equivalent of an "affiliate" sale.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com