VTech Innovation, L.P.,
doing business asThe phrase "doing business as" is a legal term used in the United States, meaning that the trade name, or fictitious business name, under which the business or operation is conducted and presented to the world is not the legal name of the legal person who actually own it and are responsible for it...
Advanced American Telephones, is a
telephoneThe telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
manufacturing company.
History
American Bell Consumer Products was created on January 1, 1983 as a unit of American Bell, Inc., upon declaration by the
Modification of Final JudgmentIn United States telecommunication law, Modification of Final Judgment is the August 1982 agreement approved by the court settling United States v. AT&T, a landmark antitrust suit, originally filed on January, 14, 1949 and modifying the previous Final Judgment of January 24, 1956...
that
American Telephone & TelegraphAT&T Corp., originally American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American telecommunications company that provides voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to businesses, consumers, and government agencies. AT&T is the oldest telecommunications company...
(AT&T) had to sell equipment to the public through an entirely separate subsidiary. American Bell Consumer Products sold terminal equipment traditionally available through the
Bell SystemThe Bell System was the American Bell Telephone Company and then, subsequently, AT&T led system which provided telephone services to much of the United States and Canada from 1877 to 1984, at various times as a monopoly. In 1984, the company was broken up into separate companies, by a U.S...
, such as the
Trimline telephoneThe Western Electric Trimline telephone is a variety of telephone set designed by Donald Genaro of Henry Dreyfuss Associates for the Bell System . It was built by the Bell System's manufacturing arm, Western Electric. The idea behind the Trimline telephone was to create an alternative telephone...
. American Bell products could be found at
Bell PhoneCenter Stores, as well as department stores such as Sears and
TargetTarget Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
. American Bell products were not marked with any Bell name, but simply marked "Western Electric" and the Bell logo, as any products sold through American Bell were
not "
Bell SystemThe Bell System was the American Bell Telephone Company and then, subsequently, AT&T led system which provided telephone services to much of the United States and Canada from 1877 to 1984, at various times as a monopoly. In 1984, the company was broken up into separate companies, by a U.S...
Property".
Upon the divestiture of the
Bell Operating CompaniesThe Bell System was the American Bell Telephone Company and then, subsequently, AT&T led system which provided telephone services to much of the United States and Canada from 1877 to 1984, at various times as a monopoly. In 1984, the company was broken up into separate companies, by a U.S...
from AT&T, American Bell was renamed
AT&T Information SystemsAT&T Information Systems was the fully separate subsidiary of AT&T which focused on computer technology ventures and telephone sales, and other unregulated business...
, and American Bell Consumer Products was renamed
AT&T Consumer Products, and Bell PhoneCenters were renamed
AT&T PhoneCenters. Bell and
Western ElectricWestern Electric Company was an American electrical engineering company, the manufacturing arm of AT&T from 1881 to 1995. It was the scene of a number of technological innovations and also some seminal developments in industrial management...
markings were replaced with
AT&T on telephone housings. AT&T Consumer Products became responsible for leased telephones and manufactured telephones on January 1, 1984. AT&T Consumer Products was absorbed into
AT&T TechnologiesAT&T Technologies, Inc., was created in 1983 in preparation for the Bell System Divestiture, which became effective as of January 1, 1984. It assumed the corporate charter of Western Electric Co., Inc.-Creation:...
in 1989. AT&T Consumer Products ceased operations of AT&T Phone Centers in 1995, deciding to simply focus on leasing equipment and on sales at department stores. It, along with the rest of
AT&T TechnologiesAT&T Technologies, Inc., was created in 1983 in preparation for the Bell System Divestiture, which became effective as of January 1, 1984. It assumed the corporate charter of Western Electric Co., Inc.-Creation:...
and Bell Laboratories, became a part of
Lucent TechnologiesAlcatel-Lucent USA, Inc., originally Lucent Technologies, Inc. is a French-owned technology company composed of what was formerly AT&T Technologies, which included Western Electric and Bell Labs...
in 1996, following completion of its spinoff from AT&T.
Lucent Technologies Consumer Products, L.P. (LTCP) became the new name of AT&T Consumer Products in 1996. Its operations remained largely unchanged from its operations at AT&T. In 1997, LTCP was placed in the unsuccessful
Philips Consumer CommunicationsPhilips Consumer Communications, L.P. was a $2.5 billion joint venture of Lucent Technologies and Royal Philips Electronics formed on October 7, 1997...
joint venture. LTCP was retained after the venture failed.
In 2000, Lucent opted to reorganize its equipment units, spinning off its Networks Systems unit as
AvayaAvaya Inc. is a privately held computer networking, information technology and telecommunications company that is a global provider of business communications systems. The international head quarters is in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, United States...
, and selling off its Consumer Products unit. Its telephone leasing operation was sold to Consumer Phone Services, and its consumer telephone manufacturing division was purchased by
VTechVTech is the common name of Video Technology Ltd. , a Hong Kong-based manufacturer of consumer electronics...
on April 2, 2000.
Today
Renamed VTech Innovation, L.P., the former LTCP manufacturing division does business as Advanced American Telephones. Telephone production was abruptly shifted to
ChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. Advanced American Telephones also entered a ten-year licensing agreement with AT&T to use the AT&T brand on all telephones it would produce.
Phones made today by Advanced American Telephones primarily include
cordless telephoneA cordless telephone or portable telephone is a telephone with a wireless handset that communicates via radio waves with a base station connected to a fixed telephone line, usually within a limited range of its base station...
s and some corded phones, such as Trimline, and some multi-line desk phones. Advanced American Telephones also holds the trademark rights to the Trimline and Design Line names, as well as others.
External links