Droid: Motorola and Verizon vs. Apple and AT&T
The Motorola Android phone may or may not be an iPhone killer (probably not) but it looks like this first solid platform for the Google Android operating system will heat up the smartphone wars.
It shapes up to be a battle among giants, even if one leaves RIM and Blackberry, plus the Pre, out of the picture. Apple is riding high just now, with the iPhone getting stronger with every report on the smartphone marketplace. The iPhone rates highest among consumers in every user survey; it is even beginning to take top honors in surveys of business users. AT&T may be getting universally beaten about the head and shoulders by irate users over service issues, but they are still signing up more new users than Verizon, showing that there is life in Ma Bell yet.
Motorola, once a power to be reckoned with in the cell phone arena, has lately fallen on hard times. Still, they continue to sell a lot of phones and may need just one big smartphone contender to get back in the hunt. The Droid may be that phone on a white horse. Verizon, owner of the best wireless network by most accounts, is still second to AT&T in new quarterly signups, mainly due to the popularity of the iPhone, so they are hoping for a big sales push from the new Android phone.
The specs for the Droid are excellent, and the Android 2.0 operating system is also becoming a solid contender, according to an Information Week story. It looks like it has most of what it needs to offer real competition to the iPhone. That is the way the Pre looked to many observers, too, but those predictions have proven false. Only time will tell what sort of share goes to the Droid.
The truth is, there is room for more good phones in the burgeoning smartphone marketplace. The basic Blackberry design is getting old in the tooth; that’s not how you make smartphones any more. Apple and Motorola both have the right idea. We will have to wait and see whether or not the superior Verizon network and a physical keyboard will ignite the imagination of the buying public. Either way, the winner of this battle of giants will probably be smartphone consumers.
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November 5th, 2009
How relevant will it be in 1 years’ time?
Do the users have to buy another droid to enjoy the latest OS or upgrade thru downloading from the web. If it is from the web then from which site?
Motorola make its money from selling hardware so you don’t take a genius to figure out what they will do.