The International Herald Tribune reports today that AT&T is saying goodbye to Cingular for good, and that earlier than expected.

On Monday, AT&T entered the final phase of one of the biggest rebranding campaigns in marketing history as it officially changed the name of its chain of retail stores to AT&T from Cingular. [...] Our branding campaign is performing above projected levels, we are ahead of schedule and customer response has been very positive,” said Randall Stephenson, chief operating officer of AT&T.

The final phase of the rebranding strategy comes just in time for the launch of Apple’s iPhone in June. This move shows just how important the iPhone will be for the face of the new AT&T.

“The excitement around the iPhone launch is like nothing any of us have witnessed before,” Clark said.

Does this mean TLAB got it right and AT&T will start a new price war with the introduction of the iPhone? Again, only time will tell….