You may not know that the innocuous kiwi was first known as the Chinese gooseberry. And Chilean sea bass was originally called the much less appetizing Patagonian toothfish. Sometimes a name change is warranted to enhance a product’s marketability. The risk is that the new name may not catch on or simply cause confusion among the public. (What are we calling Prince these days?)
That may have been the case with the FCC’s mobile alerting system, initially called the Commercial Mobile Alert System, or CMAS. Prior to its official rollout, the powers that be changed the program’s name to PLAN—for Personal Localized Alerting Network—but those in the industry never quite made the switch. Since CMAS-capable handsets have been available, they have also featured a Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) logo to indicate that a device could receive CMAS alerts, adding yet another term to the mix.
Now the FCC has officially changed the name of the initiative from CMAS to WEA in an effort to reduce confusion and “to more accurately reflect common parlance.”
Because the program is still relatively new, with many subscribers still unfamiliar with the alerts, it may take some time for the public to fully understand the program and its associated nomenclature. Hopefully, the WEA name will stick as this important program catches its stride. Whatever the name, it still spells safety for subscribers.
