Motorola's Droid Comes in Peace - For Now

It seems like these aren’t the Droids they were looking for.

Having blogged about the Apple iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPhone 3GS launches, I walked up to the Boston Verizon Wireless store on Washington Street this lunchtime looking for long lines and a carnival atmosphere for its Droid phones that went on sale at 7 am. Sadly, it wasn’t to be. I arrived at the store, asked the greeter to see a ‘Droid, and waltzed right in. In the store with me were about 25 people who were playing with Droids, and about 5 or 6 people buying them. That was it.

Because there were no big crowds getting in the way, I did get to spend some time playing with the Motorola (MOT) Droid (not to be confused with the HTC Droid called the Eris that doesn’t have a hard keyboard), and these were my initial (admittedly iPhone experience-biased) reactions:

First the good news:

• Droid is FAST. When it comes to rendering text on the screen and putting up display screens, the Droid is probably the fastest app phone on the market. Even Google (GOOG) searches snapped onto the screen faster than I’ve seen on my wife’s iPhone 3GS. Admittedly, the phone was on a store WiFi network, but
• The screen is spectacular. The 854×480 pixel screen is gorgeous to look at and easy on the eyes. Droid owners probably also have the best screens available on smart phones today.

Now the shortcomings:

• It’s chunky. If you’re looking for a phone that is all smooth and silky smooth in your hand, this isn’t the Droid you are looking for. Already the heaviest smart Android phone on the market and weighing in at 1.2 ounces more than the iPhone 3GS, This Droid is all about hard edges and sharp corners. Yes, it’s differentiated from the curvy design of Apple products, but don’t expect many women to buy Droids; it’s a guy phone.
• The keyboard doesn’t make touch typing easy. The slide-out keyboard on the Droid provides almost no tactile clues about where your fingers are. So forget touch-typing under the table on your Droid; this is a keyboard you have to look at to work. One guy behind me said he had hoped it would let him get rid of his Blackberry, but once he tried the Droid, he decided it wasn’t going to do the job. On the other hand, the on-screen keyboard seemed just as usable as the slide-out one.
• The user interface still needs work.. This isn’t a phone you’ll just pick up and know immediately how to use. With four buttons on the bottom of the screen and a lot of unfamiliar icons on the touchscreen, it’s not immediately obvious how to do make a call or send a text. I’m sure it’s something you could divine after a few minutes with the instruction manual, but no one should expect to hand a Droid to a non-Droid user and expect that person to be able to use it without a training session. Also there seem to be some odd software bits that need work; for example, I hit the off button in the store, and after that, no one could turn the Droid back on. Oops.

So will Droid be just another iPhone-killer that failed? No, I don’t think so. I have to give Verizon (VZ) credit for launching the Droid product line with the sort of full-court-press marketing that only Apple has previously done, complete with prime-time TV ads, billboards, and online advertising. That intense brand marketing takes some time to get the bandwagon moving. Further, there are going to be multiple vendors of Android devices, so if consumers don’t take to Motorola’s Droid device, they can look at alternatives from HTC, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson (albeit perhaps not all on Verizon’s network). To borrow another Star Wars analogy, consumers may not notice Droids, but they may not be able to ignore an attack of their clones.

At the moment Apple (AAPL) has little to fear from these Droid Visitors. But Apple should keep watching past the pilot launch; I don’t think the next wave of Droids is going to be quite so friendly or quite as easy to defend against.

Comments

[typopolice:]

do you think that apple is just standing still?

Nov 06 04:21 PM

[sheldon1:]

Verizon needs to stop looking for an IPHONE KILLER. The IPHONE is not their enemy. Its ATT! The way for Verizon to counter the success of ATT is the add the IPHONE to its product line. I am a Verizon customer, I want the IPHONE but hate as many others, ATT's poor service. If Verizon sold the IPHONE, first they would bring the ATT customers back, and then they would take the market. Its so simple focus on the problem.

Nov 06 04:30 PM

[James14:]

Great. Years ago when Motorola was the only game in town they were arrogant. Corp VP's would not listen to mid level managers and even common factory workers knew to not hang on to the razr but work on something innovative. Now the corporate VP's who wouldn't listen and got Motorola into the mess it's in today are still there while more and more mid to low level people by the thousands are being let go from Motorola. No one should buy Motorola and the shareholder should demand better. Until the corp. vp's start getting let go. It's a shame. The corp. vp making over 150k per year making bad decisions still there and all the people just getting buy with a modest paycheck, house are being let go. Verizon how can you even be a part of this corporate idiot.

Nov 06 06:28 PM

[SiliconVall...:]

Verizon's current network technology (CDMA) is incompatible with the iPhone (GSM). Apple has no plans to make a CDMA iPhone just for Verizon. Until LTE comes out, iPhone cannot and will not show up on Verizon network.

GSM, for now, is still widely available around the world so our iPhones work overseas. There are 4 Billion plus users. CDMA is not going away but still lags GSM in its worldwide reach with around 500 million users. Will your Droid work when you leave the US? That is something to know if you travel overseas.

The hope is that companies will converge to LTE in the next two to three years. If that happens, then it will make sense for Apple to ship a LTE-capable phone that can run on ATT and Verizon.


On Nov 06 04:30 PM sheldon1 wrote:

> Verizon needs to stop looking for an IPHONE KILLER. The IPHONE is
> not their enemy. Its ATT! The way for Verizon to counter the success
> of ATT is the add the IPHONE to its product line. I am a Verizon
> customer, I want the IPHONE but hate as many others, ATT's poor service.
> If Verizon sold the IPHONE, first they would bring the ATT customers
> back, and then they would take the market. Its so simple focus on
> the problem.

Nov 06 07:40 PM

[FreeRange:]

Reviewers keep focusing on the wrong issues and features. Without a doubt, Apple will have a new brighter screen in an upcoming iteration of the iPhone, and a faster processor, and more memory, and new features... and this will all happen sooner rather than later. These are all hardware features that are a non-issue for the iPhone today as no one is complaining about the 3Gs' processor speed or screen resolution - they are fantastic! And the laws of the universe dictate that hardware devices will improve over time as there are incremental advancements. The fact that one device is VERY SLIGHTLY better in these areas does not make the alternative device any less effective! The real issue is that no one has been able to duplicate the broad and powerful ecosystem of the iPhone, iTunes, iPod, Mac, Apple TV (yes it too will continue to improve and will be able to make huge leaps from its current iteration). This is what makes the iPhone superior and more successful - it gives you the most effective way to store, access and manage your digital life with incredible ease, functionality and usability. Apple has a clear and distinct competitive advantage, regardless of the hardware and software in these new phones.

Nov 06 08:57 PM

[dea_sys:]

"... consumers may not notice Droids, but they may not be able to ignore an attack of their clones"

Or perhaps they will: The Android platform is already totally fragmented--several devices all with different hardware characteristics and capabilities and each running a different version of Android OS (the Motorola Cliq runs version 1.5, the Motorola Droid runs 2.0, and most others run Android 1.6). Developers, at best, will resort to weak, lowest common denominator programming.

It seems to me this war is lost before it has begun...

Nov 06 09:17 PM

[kbear2:]

Regarding the CDMA/GSM issue, there are phones that can work on either system. The HTC TouchPro2 has capabilities built in for both but the GSM has been disabled by firmware in order to avoid FCC testing. It would be very easy for Apple to include dual use capability.

Unless the Android community can come together to form some sort of coalition to create a user experience comparable to iTunes and offer 100,000 apps, they will suffer from the above mentioned fragmentation and disgruntled customers.

Nov 07 05:31 AM

[GetMeOnTop:]

Hmmm, You state "That intense brand marketing takes some time to get the bandwagon moving". Is that what you really feel or think?

Seems to me, that could not be further from the truth in reference to the iPhone! Maybe this will "remind" you!

cnettv.cnet.com/cnet-t...

or any of these

video.google.com/video...#

Nov 07 08:23 AM

[GetMeOnTop:]

Oh yeah, add to all "full-court-press marketing that only Apple has previously done, complete with prime-time TV ads, billboards, and online advertising" seekingalpha.com/artic...

Nov 07 08:26 AM

[mollytjm:]

and don't forget the Apple stores! the rest of the mall can be dead, including all the phone company stores, but the Apple store is always hopping and product is always heading out the door. there's no more profitable retail space anywhere...and in this economy!

Apple will not sit still. There are amazing things in the pipeline. And there will be a line for them.

Nov 07 11:04 AM

[Road Runner:]

I don't trust Motorola to build a good phone. The Razor was all the rage a few years back, but I dumped mine after a week for an LG phone because the mic and speaker were poor, in my opinion.

Motorola is a poorly managed company, and has been that way for decades.

Nov 07 04:28 PM

[GSlusher:]

That's only part of the problem. CDMA does not allow simultaneous voice & data; GSM does. Thus, a Verizon Droid user cannot check something on the Internet while on a call--she will have to terminate the call, first. While that may sound trivial, it isn't. I've known people who carry two phones, one for calls, the other for data, for this reason. If a client calls, they need to be able to access their company's private web site & database. Telling a client (or boss or spouse/significant other/partner), "I have to hang up so that I can check that on my brand-new Droid. I'll call you back," is not good.


On Nov 07 05:31 AM kbear2 wrote:

> Regarding the CDMA/GSM issue, there are phones that can work on either
> system. The HTC TouchPro2 has capabilities built in for both but
> the GSM has been disabled by firmware in order to avoid FCC testing.
> It would be very easy for Apple to include dual use capability.

Nov 08 01:45 AM

[directcommu...:]

pretty excited about verizons future

Nov 08 03:47 PM

[navoz:]

I would never give up my iPhone, but the Droid's pretty cool

Nov 09 08:35 AM

[chano:]

Carl is a marketeer. The advice to Apple, not to underestimate future revisions of Android phone is good advice. The paid for hype surrounding the Android launch cannot compare with the unpaid 180+/- days of unceasing blasts of coverage that Apple secured for the iPhone simply by pre-announcing it six months before release .... and then keeping silent till launch day. The tension, caused by the lack of further hard info, led to manic levels of discussion, speculation and press coverage. That is why there were, and remain, thousands who will queue for the iPhone. It is the mystery factor stupid. It's the 'I gotta have it' craze.
Of course, it helps that Apple has a superb pedigree and an unmatched reputation for quality, support and user-centricity.
btw
Welcome back Carl. You are the chief reason for my visiting SA.
Please do consider a regular personal blog. You will gather a following.

Nov 11 11:22 AM

[jack dee:]

I think many of you are completey missing the point.

Todate iphone has been doing great with great margins. But the vast majority have not purchased any smart phone due to the cost of data plans/call plans.

with Android all this is changing, plans will come down and use will sky rocket as everyone begins to purchase smart phones. This will degrade margins as smartphones will be the only game in town, and Pay as you go wil continue to reign


long goog mot

Nov 12 03:53 PM