Because television and the internet can’t be the only media feeling the touch of the Droid’s marketing blitz, it looks like promotional mailers are being sent out. No new details or screenshots, but you can’t get enough of Motorola / Verizon’s Android device anyway, can you? A few more pics past the read link.
The Droid’s shaping up to be a beast of an Android phone — well played, Verizon — but Motorola’s banking much of its future on its MOTOBLUR platform, which the Droid curiously lacks (though Android 2.0 adds at least some of BLUR’s functionality back in). Don’t worry, though — Verizon hasn’t forgotten about BLUR altogether, and the rumored Calgary is looking to arrive as the carrier’s next Android phone from Moto featuring BLUR in all its social network-aggregating glory. It’s clearly positioned as a lower-end device than the Droid, stepping down to a 3 megapixel cam but still managing nifty features like an optical pad, 3.5mm jack, and naturally, a full QWERTY keyboard. Considering Rubin’s ties to Danger, you could think of this as the ill-fated Sidekick Slide all grow’d up. Word has it this might hit before the end of the year, so we’ll see just how much breathing room Verizon and Moto feel like giving the Droid before coming back for Round 2, eh?
In one of the boldest attacks on Apple’s iPhone so far, Verizon unveiled a TV commercial and website over the weekend that touted Droid, a new smartphone from Motorola, as a device that does everything the iPhone doesn’t.
Verizon’s “iDon’t” TV commercial and website (warning: Flash-centric site) displays a series of statements aimed directly at the iPhone, such as ‘iDon’t have a real keyboard, iDon’t customize, iDon’t allow open development,” but without naming the iPhone directly. (You can watch the Droid ad on YouTube, or scroll down to see the video here.)
The ad took industry watchers and analysts by surprise.
“It is very unusual in advertising to spend most of your time talking about your rivals,” says Tero Kuittinen, a senior analyst at MKM Partners. “The downside is that people will do exactly what Verizon has advised them to, which is to make direct comparisons between the Droid and iPhone.”
But, he added, “that may not always work out in Droid’s favor.”
The Droid, formerly codenamed ‘Sholes’ and also referred to at times with the codename ‘Tao,’ is an upcoming Android-based smartphone from Motorola. Droid is expected to have a 3.7-inch screen, a 5-megapixel camera, GPS, Wi-Fi, and access to the Android app market. It will also be the first phone to use the Android 2.0 operating system, aka “Eclair.”
It’s Motorola’s second Android-based phone. Last month, the company launched Cliq, its first Android phone on T-Mobile’s network. Droid will be Verizon’s first Android device and is expected to be available at the end of next month.
Verizon’s ad campaign for the Droid is the first official mention of the phone on the company’s network. But the carrier’s move to criticize the iPhone so openly and so early has left industry watchers such as Chandan Sarkar, an analyst with Auriga, a New York-based research and trading firm, puzzled.
“Given the tone of the commercials, it might risk upsetting Apple,” Sarkar says.
Verizon could also risk disappointing consumers later with the Droid because of the high expectations that it has set.
Sarkar says that it is clear that Verizon is betting on the Android OS as a way to fight Apple’s rise in the smartphone market.
“The question for Verizon is not whether Droid will be worth it, but whether Android will be worth it,” Sarkar says. “Verizon doesn’t have to hit a home run in the first wave but they want to establish a strong beachhead against Apple.”
Droid won’t be a run-of-the-mill Android phone, the two analysts interviewed by Wired.com say. Verizon has worked closely with Google and Motorola to develop the device, Sarkar says. Verizon may also be working with Google to develop applications for its LTE network (also known as 4G), he says.
Verizon might risk damaging its relationship with Apple. Though AT&T has a five-year exclusive contract, starting June 2007, to offer the iPhone in the U.S., Verizon has been seen as trying to get the device on its network. Apple also is reportedly working on a tablet that it might launch in partnership with a telecom carrier. Verizon is one of the contenders for that device.
“Verizon wants to send a message that they are not desperate for the iPhone and they have alternatives to the iPhone,” Kuittinen says. “But this kind of in-your-face attack is more than what anyone, including Apple, may have expected.”
How soon we forget. On Friday everyone was talking about Motorola’s first Android handset, the CLIQ. Now, a few days later, everyone’s in a tizzy about the kind-of announced-but-not-yet-revealed Android handset for Verizon. Well, perhaps T-Mobile’s new press release will get the CLIQ back into the public consciousness–the phone that PCMag lavished praise upon and awarded its Editor’s Choice.
T-Mobile today announced that the CLIQ is currently available for pre-sale: Order one via the carrier’s site or by calling up T-Mobile. The handset is priced at $199 with a two-year contract. Those who preorder will also get a free car charger and will be entered to win a trip for five to one of five unlisted locations.
Well now this is a pleasingly rapid transition from announcement to review samples to market availability. Motorola’s Android-loving CLIQ (already on sale under the moniker DEXT in the UK), its QWERTY keyboard and all the apps you could desire are now ready to be had, should you already have an account with T-Mobile, the device’s exclusive US carrier. It was expected that only pre-orders would be taken today, but it appears for all the world that T-Mobile is ready to start shipping the CLIQ to its loyal customers ahead of the November 2nd full release date. Prices start from the previously reported $199.99 on a two-year agreement — a move that will give you plenty of time to wonder if you shouldn’t have waited for more details about the Droid mashup from Verizon, Motorola, and Google.
What a difference two months make. It’s was late July when we first saw a render and spy shot of Motorola’s “other” Android devices, the Verizon-bound Droid, a.k.a. the Artist Formerly Known as Sholes. Boy Genius Report has been teasing the handset for the better part of the week, and now it’s giving us the full monty of the hardware, including its 5 megapixel autofocus camera on the back, and various Eclair-powered screens. Boy Genius himself notes that it’s the fastest Android device he’s used — thank goodness for an authentic OMAP3 — is “slightly” thicker than an iPhone 3GS, runs that Android 2.0 we’ve been hearing so much about, and includes a desktop cradle that turns the Droid into a glanceable display with weather and the like (sounds like a miniature Hub in a way, doesn’t it?). Anyhow, you want all to see the whole show? You know just where to click.
We knew Verizon Wireless would soon be throwing caution to the wind in an effort to sway uncommitted smartphone buyers towards Big Red, and it looks like the November-bound Motorola Droid will be VZW’s anti-iPhone. The spot, which launched tonight and can be view in its entirety after the break, is a 30 second clip that begins by mocking Apple’s cutesy music and iconic font typically seen in iPhone plugs. It reels off a number of things that the iPhone can’t do, and then abruptly goes into full-on tease mode by flashing glimpses of a robot-controlled future and a tagline that simply states: “Droid Does.” No shots of the actual Motorola Droid (or Sholes, as it was known in the past) are shown, but a dedicated teaser portal has already been erected; through that, we’re told that the phone will boast Android 2.0 and a 5 megapixel camera. At this point, we’d say the gloves are definitely off — AT&T, have anything to say for yourself, or is the iPhone doing just fine on its own?
Update: See that alien counter that’s just sitting on the lower end of the teaser page? As reader Craig N. and a number of others have pointed out, a quick perusal through the page’s XML file reveals the end of that timer to be October 30th — not that we expect to be waiting that long for more Droid news, but it’s something to keep in mind.
None too long after its first headshot was posted did Motorola Droid (a.k.a. Sholes) make a covert encore appearance, only showing off this time the startup process. It provides a bit more evidence — as if we really needed any — that the phone’s bound for Verizon’s network, and any Android customizations, at least from the initial glance, are nothing to write home about. It might be running Eclair, but we really can’t say from this. One thing’s for certain: we’ll be looking for a way to turn off that “Droid” voice from speaking every time we power up the phone. Video after the break.
The biggest thing about the Motorola CLIQ (aside from the phone’s unwieldy size) is that a company other than HTC finally got around to making an Android phone. The handset is Motorola’s first of what will likely be many entries in the space. The company, it seems, is putting all its eggs in the Google basket, hoping that open-source operating system Android will rescue the manufacturer from what has been, by all accounts, a few rough years.
Fortunately for Motorola (and the rest of us), it managed to get things right the first time. The CLIQ isn’t just Motorola’s first Android phone–it’s arguably the best handset to run the OS thus far. At PCMag, our reviewer gave the device our Editors’ Choice award, thanks to its terrific social-network-friendly skin on top of Android.
Motorola seems to really get the whole point of the OS: Unlike many other smartphone operating systems before it, customization is really the name of the game with Android. Motorola put Sidekick users directly in its sights with the device–a group that may well be a little less loyal to those devices, after this month–and has scored. The CLIQ’s success bodes well for the next Android device from the company, which by most accounts is due out soon for Verizon–which would also make it the first phone with the Google OS on that carrier.
Motorola may be pinning its comeback hopes on the CLIQ here in America, but it obviously has some rather large plans for the world’s largest carrier, too. An admittedly perplexing report has surfaced purporting that the creator of the iconic i776, er, RAZR, is fixing to distribute not one, not two, but eight OPhones to China Mobile next year. For those unaware, OPhone is an Android-based OS tailor made to operate on the aforesaid carrier and cater to its customers, and to date, quite a few other manufacturers have jumped on board over there. Sadly, no actual details about the eight Moto handsets were given, so it looks like it’s just you, a cup of joe and your hyperactive imagination for the time being.
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