Report: Droid Burns Its iPhone Bridge
10:06 am, October 19th, 2009, Ed Sutherland
Has Verizon lost all hope of gaining access to Apple’s profitable iPhone? That seems to be the message in the aftermath of the carrier’s advertising blitz promoting the upcoming release of the Motorola-built Droid cellphone using Google’s Android 2.0 operating software.
Verizon takes dead aim at the iPhone with its “iDon’t Droid” advertising campaign kicked off over the weekend:
iDon’t have a real keyboard
iDon’t run simultaneous apps
iDon’t take night shots
iDon’t allow open development
iDon’t customize
iDon’t run widgets
iDon’t have interchangeable batteries
Everything iDon’t
DROID DOES
Unsaid but very clear is that the commercial burns any bridges Verizon might have had to offer the iPhone.
“The iPhone isn’t going on Verizon…neither is any Apple product (tablet?). Not for the foreseeable future anyway,” according to Macworld. “This “iDon’t” commercial signals the end of that speculation.”
The Motorola Droid includes a physical keyboard, multitasking, widgets, 3.5-inch 854×480-pixel capacitive touch screen, 5-megapixel still camera, video camera, Wi-Fi, GPS and 3.5mm headphone jack.
The device, which many view as Motorola’s Sholes device unearthed in June, will reportedly use Google’s new Android 2.0 software and go head-to-head against the iPhone in November.
Verizon’s actions seems to refute reports the carrier is still courting Apple. Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam has supposedly visited Apple’s headquarters as the carrier tests how a CDMA iPhone might work on Verizon’s 4G LTE network, according to an unsubstatiated blog report.
[Via Macworld, Engadget, Boy Genius and iDon't Ad]
Posted by Ed Sutherland in News | Comment on this article
What a fugly phone
Peter, on October 19th, 2009 at 11:25 am
i think that phone looks like CRAP!!!! i just dont get why people hate on the iPhone if you dont like it dont buy one. i dont like the UMMMM lets see LG has some SHIT phones but i dont bag on em all day long.
MonsterMac, on October 19th, 2009 at 11:54 am
@ Peter, I agree. It’s just another ugly slider.
Matt, on October 19th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Despite this reporter’s use of the adjective, many accounts claim that neither AT&T, nor the several foreign carriers, have seen substantial profitability from carrying the iPhone.
Given that reality, and given that Apple is notorious for being difficult to deal with, it is not surprising to me that Verizon is jumping aboard the Android locomotive. T-Mobile is reported to be embracing Android as well, with five new handsets from the world’s largest and most respected manufacturers.
It is telling that Verizon touts the disappointments baked into the iPhone. Seemingly, they care little about appeasing Apple, and that they are convinced (as is much of the tech community) that Android is a better bet for long-term profits.
Given the silly (and unfixable) limitations that Apple imposes on its uses via crippled software, it is my guess that Apple will fall from its current third-place position in the smartphone market once Adroid hits full boogie.
Apple has lost on the desktop, it has lost in the server market, and is no longer even a player in the enterprise market. It is a niche player in every market it enters. It has been beaten by products that, like Google’s Android, nurture interoperability.
Time will tell, but dismissing Android at this point in time is a fool’s errand.
iGenius, on October 19th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
@iGenius: IMHO Android still has some work to do to be as streamlined as the iPhone OS is… And coupling it with such ugly welcome-back-to-the-middle-ages-of-mobile pieces of s**t like the Droid won’t help it, believe me…
Daniel, on October 19th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
@iGenius: Seriously? Apple lost on the desktop, where Apple’s market share continues to grow even though they are selling premium-priced products and are battling it out against junk netbooks? Really? On the server front, where Snow Leopard server is selling like crazy? The iPod continues to outpace all other personal music device sales, despite Microsoft’s best efforts. Seems to me you simply don’t like Apple. That’s fine, but no need to bash on them, especially in light of the facts that are out there.
As for Android, I hope it does well as true competition in the mobile handset marketplace will only breed innovation, however, the hardware I’ve seen so far is being built with the same old existing business models and attitude–build something that appears to be cool, but is just another piece of junk made to substandard physical tolerances with a high returns rate and an average working lifetime of less than the two years that the customer is under contract for with the carrier, designed to maximize margins on the hardware instead of increasing brand loyalty and maximizing margins by reducing turnover on the handset and extending customer life. Thanks, but no thanks. I got rid of my BlackBerry Storm for those very reasons.
Tom Dixon, on October 19th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
“Seriously? Apple lost on the desktop, where Apple’s market share continues to grow even though they are selling premium-priced products and are battling it out against junk netbooks? Really?”
According to
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10366940-92.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=News-Apple
92% of desktop owners choose something other than the Mac. If you can find better info, let me know.
“On the server front, where Snow Leopard server is selling like crazy? ”
I looked for stats on Apple’s share of the server market, and found little except for an article from 2002 touting some new software. Their impact in the server market has gone down since then. Do you have any information about Snow Leopard being used as a server OS and trouncing the big boys? I’d be very interested in seeing it.
“The iPod continues to outpace all other personal music device sales, despite Microsoft’s best efforts.”
Yes. Apple has done very well in that market. But it is a dying market. Sales are way down, YOY, as announced by Apple yesterday. Note that iSteve has touted the iTouch as a gaming device, and not a as music player, in recent remarks. That is because fewer and fewer folks are buying standalone music players.
“As for Android, I hope it does well as true competition in the mobile handset marketplace will only breed innovation, however, the hardware I’ve seen so far is being built with the same old existing business models and attitude–build something that appears to be cool, but is just another piece of junk made to substandard physical tolerances with a high returns rate and an average working lifetime of less than the two years that the customer is under contract for with the carrier, designed to maximize margins on the hardware instead of increasing brand loyalty and maximizing margins by reducing turnover on the handset and extending customer life.’
Wow. That’s not something I’d ever heard. I agree with your hopes, however, that increased competition will yield better devices for consumers over time.
I have a 3GS, and while I think the hardware is very good, I hate how Apple will not allow us to use it to its fullest (for example, did you know that it has an FM radio built in?). With a better OS, or even with a more open software environment, it would be killer.
But the great hardware can be emulated by others, and the unique software capabilities of the iPhone are being replicated by others currently. Time will tell.
If somebody comes out with better hardware (and the specs of the Droid trounce the iPhone) then I think that there will be be lots of folks who decide to jump ship. As of now, ISTM that lots of techies are VERY interested in Android, and given its open nature, devices can be designed for all sorts of market segments.
Android can be made as dumbed-down as the iPhone, and it can be customized infinitely by the hardware manufacturer, the carrier and the consumer to be as feature-rich as desired. The iPhone is only what Apple wants it to be, and to a guy like me, that is frustrating..
iGenius, on October 20th, 2009 at 7:23 am
While the “mini-debate” between Mr. Dixon and iGenius seems misplaced — and an all-too-common dust-up pitting what’s already installed against what’s selling (and what’s not) currently — the discussion is otherwise enjoyable and valuable. I, too, can hardly wait to see what the industry really does with Android, and what Apple does and does not permit to be done with the iPhone platform. I am hoping to see more spirited discussion about this, here, at Focus.com (where I work), and elsewhere!
Michael Dortch, on November 7th, 2009 at 5:58 pm