Orange and T-Mobile’s new combined name: Weird, but not THAT weird

Amusement erupted around the internet today when news broke about the new name that newly-merged UK mobile networks T-Mobile and Orange had chosen to go by: Everything Everywhere.

Pithy tweets quipped things like “Orange/T-Mobile =’Everything Everywhere’? In our village, it’s more like ‘Something Somewhere…If You’re Lucky‘” and “Disappointed to learn that Orange Tea was not the final name for the Orange/T-Mobile UK consolidation. “Everything Everywhere” is ridiculous“.

On first look, it does seem like a bit of a strange choice for a name. It’s easy to trip on your tongue if you say it quickly and it does sounds a bit silly. The good news is that the existing Orange and T-Mobile brands will continue to operate separately, with Everything Everywhere simply being the name of a holding company looking after both brands.

Orange has a very strong reputation in the UK and its ‘Orange Wednesdays’ cinema promotion deal is long established as cheap way to see films midweek. T-Mobile might not be so well loved by the public in general but having two separate brands at its disposal will give Everything Everywhere the ability to target different types of customers with distinctly different deals.

At the same time, there will be benefits for both sets of customers. T-Mobile and Orange users will be able to roam on each other’s networks for free across the UK, upping both brand’s network coverage significantly (and making Orange’s iPad data deal even more appealing).

One thing that doesn’t seem to have been sorted is the company’s domain name. At the time of writing, EverythingEverywhere.com appears to be taken by someone else, while EverythingEverywhere.co.uk is still up for grabs. We can image domain name squatters are firing up their credit cards and mouse fingers as we type. (UPDATE: The Register reports that Everything Everywhere have now bought the .com domain from its previous owner.)

[via Reuters]