UPDATED: Verizon Attack Ads — Claim iPhone iDoesn’t do What Android 2.0 Droid Does
UPDATE: TiPb asked a few non-geek friends and most of them didn’t even realize Verizon was targeting the iPhone in these ads (some thought the commercial was saying whatever device they were talking about didn’t do the things listed). Is that an ad-failure, or was it deliberately targeting geeks?
Secondly, Sacha Seagan over at Gearlog brings up the now apparently dual, and now opposite meaning behind “open application” buzzwords – a device totally controlled by Verizon.
Thirdly, does the push for the Droid explain why Verizon seemingly buried the BlackBerry Storm2 announcement?
Original post after the break!
Verizon has now aired their first new Android 2.0-centric, anti-iPhone (technically “iDon’t iDevice”) attack ad and placed a new website online to go with them. Surprise, surprise — like that leaked BlackBerry Storm2 vs. iPhone 3G(!) chart Verizon put together, the ads contain blatant inaccuracies (even if typeset in Apple’s typical Myriad Pro):
- iDon’t have a real keyboard: Er, it does. Not to get all Spock, but nothing unreal exists, the iPhone’s keyboard exists, therefore it’s real. Sure, it’s soft/virtual (like the Verizon BlackBerry Storm2’s) rather than hard, but it’s certainly not imaginary.
- iDon’t run simultaneous apps: Again, it does. The iPhone can run iPod, Email, Phone, Messages, App Store/iTunes downloads, Quicktime streams, and other functions in the background with full multitasking. Apple restricts two or more 3rd party apps from running at the same time, but that’s obviously too subtle a difference for Verizon. (iPhone on HSPA can also multitask voice and data. Droid on CDMA — no data when you’re on the phone.)
- iDon’t take night shots: Well, we guess they mean the camera’s ISO doesn’t produce good results in low light. Fair point. Arguably nothing short of a really good DSLR sensor does, tiny LED flash included. Though 5 megapixels is still nice.
- iDon’t allow open development. Really, Verizon, with your history, you want to play that card? Android is an about face for you, not a two-face. We’ll wait and see on this one.
- iDon’t customize. Okay, fair point. One out of how many so far? UPDATE: Shawn Roberts points out it remains to be seen how customizable the Droid is. If it’s just re-arranging icons, the iPhone can do that too.
- iDon’t run widgets. What’s a widget? Arguably iPhone Stocks and Weather are widgets not far removed from Mac OS X’s Dashboard counter-parts. We’re guessing they mean little, persistent on-screen information snippets. We’ll give them a second point for that.
- iDon’t have a removable battery. Third point. Apple’s driven away from that entire concept towards longer life, built-in batteries and external charging packs. If that’s something you can’t stand, fair enough.
Wrap all that up in an Adobe Flash-only site for Verizon’s upcoming Android powered Droid phone, and we’re thinking Verizon better hope that the handset ends up a lot better than the marketing thus far. And, that’s the key point here, as Daring Fireball points out:
“Droid” is going to be a Verizon-owned brand. It’s purportedly a Motorola-manufactured phone, but Verizon is the licensee of the “Droid” trademark. (Which name, by the way, strikes me as the perfect name for an Android OS phone — sort of implicitly establishes it as the Android phone.) That’s the big thing. Verizon doesn’t see itself as a mere carrier for other companies’ phones. It sees itself as being bigger than the phones. It’s Verizon-vs.-Apple in this spot, not Verizon-vs.-AT&T.
It’s exactly the opposite approach, with Apple leading the carriers with iPhone (hopefully hastening them into their “dumb-pipe” future), now Verizon wants to turn back the clock by owning an OS like Android. They want to put carriers at the front again. Is that something that tempts you to switch?
[Video via Engadget]
October 17th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
What a fanboy post.
October 17th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Stupid commercial. Does anyone think that cell phone pictures in the dark are any good anyway? Nope.
October 17th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
verizon sounds awfully desperate with these ads. sour grapes.
i care about customization and backgrounding, and think that functionality should be highlighted – but the tone with which verizon is going about this is just stoopid.
plus that website of theirs is so dark and angry. dark and angry doesn’t make me excited to buy anything.
October 17th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
won’t ever go back to a CDMA phone or carrier. the only way I’d go to verizon is when the LTE networks are up and running. I like owning a phone I can take almost anywhere in the world.
October 17th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
They are desperate, they have to go after ONE phone out of all that are out there. that just shows the power the iphone has in the market.
Also good catch to iphoneblog on the irony, I didnt catch it the first time seeing the ad.
1) “Real” keyboard- I guess their coveted Storm 2 about to come out is inferior too since its a touchscreen keyboard
2) Night photos- Really? Take your tiny led flash on your Blackberry Curve etc into a pitch black room and take a photo. You MIGHT get some discernible image, maybe barely, but whats the point?
October 17th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Also forgot “open development”
Thats laughable from VZW, even not taking inot account their “closed” mentality past. Look at the present, stripping the appstore out of Windows Mobile and Blackberry in favor of their own owned and controlled VZW app store.
Open development eh?
October 17th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
They can iDon’t all they want, but I doubt this phone will be as good as the pre.
October 17th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
Rene is a such a Fanboy… all of VZ points are true and Rene is playing with words. When ppl think “keyboard” they think the hard kind. iPhone does not have 5.0M camera etc. Apple quit innovating two years ago and Rene can’t admit it.
October 17th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
Verizon is talking a pretty big game and they will seriously have to back this up come November. However, all of the things mentioned I would love to see the iPhone improve on (except the keyboard, love those virtual keys).
October 17th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
Also, negative campaigns are never a good sign. It’s desperate. In comparison iPhone commercials are all about iCan and let’s the user decide if the iCan’s are enough for them to buy the phone compared to the other phones iCan’s.
October 17th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
@Ivan
Dont be ignorant.
1) “Keyboard”- so whats VZW gonna say when the Storm 2 comes out in a few weeks with the same “non-real” keyboard? Recant?
2) Megapixels is an image size, it does NOT automatically equate higher QUALITY photos.
October 17th, 2009 at 10:27 pm
It’s comical seeing these ridiculous ads of companies trying to compete with Apple and the iPhone. The king will reign for many years to come.
October 17th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
@Justin “Also, negative campaigns are never a good sign. It’s desperate. ” again, when apple runs commercials badmouthing vista everyone says how great they are. When someone uses the same technique against apple it’s “desperate”
By the way Rene, did you recently take a job in Apple PR? If not, at least consider a job in politics. You know exactly what they meant by a real keyboard and simultaneous apps. Stop twisting their words. The iPhone has flaws, admit it. Every device has flaws. Verizon has pointed out actual flaws. Rather than say “no their not leave my perfect phone alone!” we should be saying “apple fix this stuff and make the iPhone even better”
October 17th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
I like the agressiveness. I’m an iPhone lover (typing from my 3gs right now) but somebody needs to straing apple of something. All companies are always afraid of competing against apple. I don’t like verizon at all, and it’s funny they claim (open development) but competion is welcomed.
October 17th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Negative campaigns is what Apple uses against Microsoft. It’s a great move IMO. The iphone does have its weaknesses and can be easily ripped on. They don’t have to be fair and can present the iphone in any light they choose.
October 17th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
It’s already achieved its goal of garnering buzz. Here we are talking about it..
October 17th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
The iPhone is so great! It is flawless. Everybody else sucks and shouldn’t try. (sarcasm)
See how stupid that sounds?
And for those who say negative campaigns are bad, “I’m a PC” mother Fu cker!!!
October 17th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
“again, when apple runs commercials badmouthing vista everyone says how great they are. When someone uses the same technique against apple it’s “desperate””
that’s because apple does it in a fun, humorous fashion which no one else seems to understand is they key to why those ads don’t alienate most people.
October 17th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
Apple did a lot to break the traditional carrier lock on phones. Arguably, Apple controls the iPhone, not AT&T or any carrier.
Don’t be fooled into thinking this is just iPhone vs. Droid. This is Verizon wanting to make sure the old fashioned carrier-centric model locks everyone back in, and they don’t become the “dumb pipes” many of us want.
Less than a year ago Verizon locked out GPS, didn’t allow WiFi, and refused to let applications stores on their devices other than their owns. If not for Apple and the iPhone, they would likely still be that way.
Apple fundamentally changed the way the smartphone market works. (And yeah, the App Store, that wasn’t an innovation in the last 2 years, right…)
Make it personal if you want, but if anyone really thinks consumers are better off with the carrier controlling the device and the pipe, than you have bigger problems than just lack of discussion prowess
October 17th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
It’s just another reason why its brilliant (too bad Palm missed the opportunity. Taking shots at a company that themselves wrote the book on it vs Microsoft. There’s little sympathy to be had for Apple in that regard.
October 17th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
Negative ads aren’t good or bad, no ad style or type is good or bad in and of itself. Some of Apple’s I’m a Mac ads are hilarious. Others fall flat. Overall PC saves a lot of those ads by being likable. It’s all about execution.
Some car commercials do it well as well.
In general, Apple font and iWords aside, there’s a lot of people who won’t even realize this was an anti-Apple ad (most of my family didn’t). That means they targeted geeks, and traditionally that’s not a huge buying market.
October 17th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
AT&T just need to make an ad in response simply saying
iDONT get the iPhone
October 17th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Another repeat soon to be happening. The phone will come out and there will be a battle video comparing both phones’s features, apps stores, internet speed, software function, customer simplicity, customization, and so on. I remember back when the first iPhone “Killer” was the Sprint Instinct, didn’t take long till people realized how poorly it was really made and became the Sprint Extinct. Then came the others like the first ever touchscreen Blackberry, the Storm, once again shot down, next the Palm Pre, another let down. And so on, not going to lie, the Android Phone have lots of ideas but for me, I don’t need to multitask so much on a phone, I actually have patients enough to open a app to see something quick and close it to open another one be notified about something else. The iPhone has it’s quick responding software to satisfy my needs. I just see another let down coming from this commercial. If ONLY apple can actually say yes to have the Jailbreak customization allowed on the iPhone with some rules at least, all these competition phone manufacturers would be really fucked. People should make comparison reviews with these Android Phones against a JailBroken iPhone and we’ll see what people like best…
October 17th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
@Dman Valid point. One thing though when talking about the non iPhone ads…at least the Mac vs PC (OSX vs Vista) ads are amusing and seem less like a political smear campaign (also more accurate).
October 17th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Quit making excuses. iPhone is lacking in these areas. Instead, we ought to be happy there is serious competition coming along.
I think of the iPhone platform as an elite unit and Android as a huge army. It will be a long war with lots of battles. The first is Verizon’s Droid and behind it are a slew of others.
October 17th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
@Joe mcg
I don’t think anyone is saying the iPhone is flawless. This is just a retarded campaign. How does android even compete with iPhone? 2 completely different business models really. There’s a place for both. If anything android competes with winmo. Verizons approach here is useless
October 17th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
You tell them Rene!
October 17th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
iDon’t want a hardware keyboard.
October 17th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
This ad campaign doesn’t look good for Verizon users hoping to be able to get the iPhone anytime soon.
October 17th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
sounds like an iFAIL for VZW
October 17th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
You should give them at least a half point on the simultaneous apps, if not a full point. Yes, my iPhone can run an Apple-produced app in the background. Since Apple is quick to tout 85,000 apps in the store, that means 0.00007 of all apps can run in the background. Even less, if you want to consider that primary uses of those apps (e.g. quick reply on SMS) cannot run while keeping another app open, which drastically restricts their utility.
It is hardly Verizon’s place to draw the distinction or give a competitor a pat on the back for a feature Apple will not allow to developers, and which remains impossible for 99.993% of all applications on the platform.
October 17th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
Let’s not waste our time on this anymore. Soon the HTC HD2 will be here and we’ll all feel like fools for ever having the iPhone.
October 17th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
No doubt the HD2 is GREAT hardware, but its still WM 6.5 and rumor is itll be on Tmo only meaning it wont matter to 90% of the country.
October 17th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
i dont normally come out against this blog, but this is such a typical fanboy post. its almost as if this forum is being used as a mouth piece for apple, inc.
October 17th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
The fact that any of you think any of these phones are serious competition is hilarious, instinct, storm, pre, and the rest were all supposed to be iphone killers and all they did was show people that they are lame attempts. people continue to go iphone and the trend will not stop
October 17th, 2009 at 11:46 pm
Though I can care less about the ads (not in US anyway) I don’t think they will have any impact on consumers’ mindset. There is a case to be made for “weakness” with almost anything. So what? And why virtual keyboard or no 3rd party apps multitasking is a weakness? Moreover, there is case to be made that Apple designed iPhone the way it is specifically to overcome the weaknesses of the traditional approach (hardware keyboard and “unlimited” multitasking). If you think multitasking doesn’t have it’s weaknesses, given memory and battery life constrains, think again. It’s quite possible that the next, more powerful version of iPhone hardware, will have “better” multitasking capabilities. Best Overall User Experience is what driving Apple’s design – not what the current version iCan’t.
October 18th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Funny – I did an impromptu survey of non-geeks and most didn’t realize it was the iPhone bring targeted. Is that bad for Verizon or were they targeting geeks?
October 18th, 2009 at 12:01 am
verizon is just trying to create some hype & sell a product. truth be told, everyone of u guys, myself included, did your own OWN reasearch compairing all the available smart phones. i didn’t rely on verizon, or sprint, or at&t’s research. does verizon actually think a consumer s going to make a large $$$ purchase based on their numbers & research?
i read this blog, blackberry blogs, etc. before i dumped $$$ to stay w at&t & pick up a 3gs. my own research told me the iphone was was the best phone on the market.
i don’t mind verizon’s commercials. but at least apple’s are funny.
October 18th, 2009 at 12:32 am
While I agree that the iPhone is the best phone on the market right now, I also think the VZW criticisms are valid.
Some people don’t want a hardware keyboard, but some do, myself included. I could be very productive with a BT tethered keyboard like what I used to have on my old Palm devices.
Background apps would be a welcome addition to the Apple OS. (Sorry folks. We’re talking third party apps, and I think anyone with any sense knows that.)
And customization in the launcher? I’d love this as well.
Unfortunately, Apple has locked us into their way, at least for the time being. Again, I love my iPhone. But it would be nice if I could get some enhanced functionality that didn’t require a jailbroken phone.
October 18th, 2009 at 12:42 am
the ad is stupid. Verizon is just mad because they dont have the best phone out there! haha…losers. All this is doing is giving more attention to the iphone because everyone knows it starts with the letter “I” and its not like all the tweens are gonna give up their idevices for something thats called “droid”
October 18th, 2009 at 12:46 am
@bstring “I think of the iPhone platform as an elite unit and Android as a huge army. It will be a long war with lots of battles. The first is Verizon’s Droid and behind it are a slew of others.” Uh, Tmo HTC G1? Sprint Hero? Sprint Samsung android phone? Not the first.
I love Mac, but I’m a bigger fan of Android. I agree that iPhone has flipped the market on it’s head and set a new bar for what we expect from phones. Now it’s time to push that bar even higher and I think Android is the OS to do that. But seriously, Verizon? You were supposed to be the next carrier with the iPhone, you blew it the first time, and now you’re blowing it the second time. I’ll be happy when iPhone comes to Sprint now instead of Verizon
October 18th, 2009 at 12:46 am
WOW WOW. that was the most “fan-boyist” post I ever read on this site. I own an iPhone and love it, I will own this phone longer than any other phone I’ve ever had, even if AT&t does provide 3G in my home and working area; however, my wife own the omnia with Verizon in my name, and i’ve been telling her this will be her next phone for Verizon. She hate AT&t crappy data and voice network and wants a physical keyboard again, this is by far the phone to get with Verizon (win 6.5 is weak, will wait to see win 7). And for those mentioning blackberry storm 2, you sound threaten for some reason, blackberry and Verizon are not insync with each on this phone and it’s only to appeal to blackberry fanboys.
October 18th, 2009 at 12:47 am
Its funny cause i’ve seen phones that do “3 megapixel” and they are 10 times WORSE then iphone. verizon doesnt got anything on this “idevice” hahahahahahaha
October 18th, 2009 at 12:52 am
My mistake I meant to state AT&T DOES NOT provide 3G in my working and home area (relying on WiFi for my data). They tell by end of year for 3G, but told me end of summer in June when I bought the 3GS.
October 18th, 2009 at 1:55 am
Oh lol – it’s all true. It don’t. Get over it.
October 18th, 2009 at 2:04 am
The lack of multitasking is a smart decision by Apple for one reason…. The majority of smartphone users do not know how to use their device. They look at the device to simplify their life and end up not taking care of their device.
One of the most common issues a Blackberry and WinMo device have is the problem of leaving apps open which slows down the phone immensely. Making the device incapable of multitasking ensures people will have less issues of their device choking due to user error.
And before anyone starts to quip about how they shouldn’t be penalized due to the chance of User error… The bulk of people do not take care of their devices… You think that 30something Mom with an iPhone 3GS whom needs someone to setup her email would understand that her device doesn’t work properly due to her not closing her apps?
The statement that they didn’t support multitasking due to battery life is a nice way to say “the bulk of our users like any other cellphone and smartphone users are idiots. If we give them multitasking so many morons will flood our store due to user errors that we might aswell just not give it to them. Do we really want a bad rep like WinMo devices because the average user will not learn their device?”.
October 18th, 2009 at 2:24 am
I had a windows mobile phone in which apps could run in the background but all it would do is slow my phone down and I couldn’t do anything except go in and stop the programs. iPhone is slow sometimes too if you have a 3G running 3.x OS and I am frustrated with that but none of my friends with 3GS’ complain. I’ll upgrade probably in the next Gen to a new iPhone.
October 18th, 2009 at 2:40 am
once again
http://www.droiddoes.com/
October 18th, 2009 at 2:49 am
and? What will be funny is when Google decides to try and force and upgrade and do to droid what they did to the G1…
October 18th, 2009 at 3:12 am
great ad ! what it is saying doesn’t make sense, but style is awesome..
October 18th, 2009 at 4:17 am
Gotta agree with the first poster. What an utterly lame post. Was it supposed to be funny or ironic? It wasn’t. It just came off as pathetic, petulant fanboy whining. I mean, c’mon, the iPhone is a terrific phone, but it simply doesn’t do everything under the sun, so it’s to be expected that competitors will market directly to the things it doesn’t do. In the end, though, reality-defying fanboy posts like this one do more to damage to iPhone and Apple reputation than the ad itself; spoiled brat posts like this are why Apple has an inaccurate image of being a company that caters to a bunch of elitist prigs. You do more to tarnish the iPhone’s image than Verizon ever could.
October 18th, 2009 at 4:29 am
I loved my iphone but could not stand AT&T. My Storm is ok but my service now is wonderfull. What good is it to have the best phone with the worst service. The reason why android is going to do well is the fact that they are not limiting it to one network. Apple and the iphone would be so much further if they would put the phone on all networks. I am going to get this phone. If the iphone hits Verizon then I will buy a new one. Plain and simple I will stay with the best phone service. All the cool apps in the world dont mean a thing if you cant get a call. It is a phone……
October 18th, 2009 at 4:45 am
I guess I should have read the name of the blog. Of course it is a “fan boy” review. Do your research people and learn about this phone and the many android phones on the way and make up your own mind. Dont be mindless zombies chanting “iphone, iphone, iphone”……
October 18th, 2009 at 4:46 am
Excuses… This ad campaign strikes at the iPhone’s weaknesses, and Apple better wake up.
October 18th, 2009 at 4:58 am
I think apple don’t like verizon that much nomore. Apple stay with apple!!!!!
October 18th, 2009 at 4:58 am
Oh Stay With AT&T 4ever
October 18th, 2009 at 5:07 am
Ok one more post while researching this site I came across a post titled “Dear Apple: If You’re Releasing a New Wireless Keyboard, Please Make it Work With iPhone”. It seems to be written by the same person who says that the iphone has a keyboard. So if the keyboard for the iphone is so good why would you make this post?
October 18th, 2009 at 5:26 am
Apple is using the trickle effect. Every new iPhone they realese will add a little something new to make people go buy a new iPhone every year. It’s a simple concept that apple has perfect with the Iphone, eventually we will all have a Iphone with 64gigs, 7 megapixel camera, external storage, multitasking, customization, and HD recording. It’s only a matter of time
October 18th, 2009 at 5:42 am
One more thing, this is a blow to verizon if they wanted to get the Iphone because now apple will probably extend their exclusive contract with AT&T until 2012 or 2013, or they might have the Iphone on T mobile rather sprint or verizon.
Even if this android phone is better compared to the iPhone 3GS they will need to compete with apple on it’s one year cycles of new IPhones Which I think is the main reason why no phone has caught up to apple so far.
October 18th, 2009 at 6:02 am
I’m switching now, I’m sending in my $175 early termination fee and changing to Verizon. (Yeah right) I don’t think anything like this will happen. The only way I will switch to Verizon, is if they get the iPhone….. I guess all the rumors of that happening are pretty much confirmed not true, because they wouldn’t be talking it down so much if they were getting it. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
October 18th, 2009 at 6:16 am
This add will not break the deal for apple and verizon. What will always kill the deal is the fact that Apple will not realese any control of the phone. As you can see verizon has decided that total control will keep them in the dark. They are growing up. I dont think apple has learned the same lesson yet. All AT&T does with the iphone is let it use its network and they sell them. The rest is controled by Apple. That is why they will never make a deal.
October 18th, 2009 at 6:17 am
“iDon’t have a real keyboard: Er, it does.”
Honestly, this is a matter of opinion. I don’t think the iPhone keyboard is a “real” keyboard either. When I think “real” I think physical and touchy-feely. My opinion, others will (and have) disagreed.
Overall, I really get the impression this commercial has touched a nerve… just like when Apple started running the “Mac/PC” ads. Pot… kettle… black. Apple has a popular and well-publicized device; it’s only natural that people are going to go after it’s flaws to flog their own products.
Flame-retardant underwear on.
October 18th, 2009 at 6:36 am
Cute commercial. Where’s the phone?
October 18th, 2009 at 6:50 am
And by the way. The name of this blog is “The iPhone Blog” so it’s an obvious fanboy site. I don’t understand why people have such adverse reactions to post like this when they come to this blog. It’s like a Star Wars fan site praising ALL of the films even though they all have obvious short comings.
If you don’t wanna hear the fanboy banter, don’t read the ****** blog. You don’t see me going to Sean Hannity’s website everyday…or ever.
October 18th, 2009 at 7:04 am
The point about whether or not the iPhone has a real keyboard is a friggin joke. There has been plenty of debate on this site and others about whether or not a hardware keyboard would be appealing. Some say yes, others no. However, it cannot be denied a significant amount of people would like a hardware keyboard. The whole “technically it does” statement is complete garbage and makes me question everything I’ve read on this site. I don’t know if Rene considers himself a journalist, but I think he should stick to copy and pasting articles from Engadget from 2 days ago and stop editorializing. It’s embarrassing.
October 18th, 2009 at 7:27 am
Wow, you sound like an angry fanboy? Really getting that upset at an Ad? I thought you weren’t so bias but indeed you are, all of these thing are true… listening to music while doing something else isn’t multitasking.
October 18th, 2009 at 8:01 am
Verizon can exaggerate all it wants. What’s Apple do? Respond? Ignore? There’s pros and cons to each.
There’s a map for that is really attacking AT&T. Explaining GSM and its benefits might be defense enough for them. Verizon is number one so no shame in responding.
The V’s Droid though isn’t number one in anything. It’s nothing right now. It’s really the Android platform as a whole that is the competition. Responding only helps promote it since hardly any of the mainstream knows what Android is. Best thing Apple can do is address some of the points raised in 4.0 and next hardware release.
It won’t be kb or battery points. Many prefer a virtual kb. As for battery, I firmly believe that’s a more on paper thing. In reality, few take backup batteries with them even with devices that can remove them. I’ve never carried a spare battery with any old palms. Instead, i’d rather have the benefits of a nonremovable battery which is a more solid phone, no creaking, tighter designs, etc.
And so that leaves multitasking..something you know Apple is looking at. A flash for nightshots? (i don’t care). And widgets..something i really don’t want but adds clutter for the mainstreamer. Oh and openness. Which isn’t really important for the mainstreamer.
It’s easy to throw these things in. Android does. But they ignore the main principle in keeping it simple. Apple has to be mindful of expanding the OS and still keeping it 6 yr old friendly.
October 18th, 2009 at 8:31 am
Rene, strange I have never seen a post from you without the fanboy slant.
The keyboard may be fine on the iPhone. I love it and have no problems typing just as fast as a hard keyboard. The problem is you can’t grab the phone and type fast on your first try. People go into the store and try typing on an iPhone and fail, then they type on a hard keyboard and do fine. The hard keyboard is a very good selling point. Also think about girls with nails. My wife finally ended up cutting her thumb nails shorter so she could type.
October 18th, 2009 at 8:32 am
1) This is not a fanboy post. This whole blog is a targeted blog about one company’s phone. If you want to see a fanboy post, look at Gizmodo’s post about the ad campaign. They haven’t even updated it yet.
2) Verizon is not a person and is not “angry” or “threatened” by the iPhone. It is a company that puts out many ads, made by advertising firms. Verizon isn’t concerned about self-consistency (e.g., “What about the Storm 2?”). If Verizon got the iPhone tomorrow, they would put out a new ad about the iPhone.
3) As we already know, the U.S. telcos don’t want to be forced into becoming “dumb pipes,” providers of network access without having any control over what people do on the network. And yet, that is what’s happening. The iPhone didn’t start that trend, but it has played a big part. As it was discussed earlier, Verizon has one of the worst track records in crippling phones. So if they are advertising “open app development” as a feature, then things may really be changing for the U.S. market.
4) AT&T’s competitors are in a position where they have to respond not to AT&T’s ads, but to Apple’s iPhone ads. Apple has spent a HUGE amount of money advertising the iPhone, which means AT&T hasn’t had to spend as much money on advertising. Even if AT&T is seen as a big baddie, Apple is an enormously high profile company; Steve Jobs is reportedly the most admired CEO among U.S. high school students (it used to be Bill Gates). A competitor can’t run a successful ad campaign starting from the premise, “Wow, the iPhone is GREAT! But, only AT&T has it. But hey, we have cool phones too!”
5) What is interesting is that both T-mobile and Verizon have ads for Android now. And one selling point of Android is Google service integration. Google is a major player in this arena that no one is talking about.
All in all, I think this is another in a string of great developments in the U.S. telco market. Reports on T-mobile’s Project Black run in a similar vein. I’m skeptical of all these companies, but in general, they are moving in the direction of supporting data-heavy smartphones with 3rd party software development. They are gradually being forced to compete on the basis of data services and “net neutrality.”
Can Verizon and T-Mobile compete with AT%T on this basis? IMO, absolutely. It’s pretty clear that AT&T got into something without realizing it in time, and that they weren’t prepared for the results. AT&T’s greatest point of weakness is whether or not it can keep up with cellular smartphone data demand. Way back when AT&T saw Android, their response was to ask if they could have their own app store on Android, and that they would be studying the situation for the future. That showed a real lack of understanding about what’s going on with smartphones.
The fact is, I don’t think AT&T can afford to add another popular, data-heavy smartphone platform on its network. They are indicating tiered data plans in the future, just as T-Mobile is following Sprint in offering all-you-can-eat plans. And while AT&T is trying to control and reduce data usage by consumers through its pay-as-you-go plan, Verizon and T-mobile are moving towards no-contract cellular and data plans.
AT&T recently revealed that the average iPhone / smartphone user uses more data than a non-smartphone user by one order of magnitude (about 400MB/month on average; by comparison, I have used as much as 3.2 GB of data in one month). This was their justification for the possibility of tiered (i.e., closely monitored) data usage plans. A recent Ars Technica article revealed that notebook cellular data usage is much more manageable than smartphone cellular data usage, because smartphones generate more overall network activity than notebooks. That’s why AT&T is shifting away from smartphones and towards cellular modems. But they are way behind in that game.
The list could go on for a while. AT&T is in a relative state of lockdown because of the iPhone, their misunderstanding of the trend in cellular data usage, and the way they handled their 3G rollout. U.S. cellular customers should be pleased about how things are going.
October 18th, 2009 at 8:54 am
One other thought, just in case 10 paragraphs of other input wasn’t sufficient.
So, let’s say that CNN develops an iPhone app that makes them a little money for already available content. And then, suppose that it is actually well-reviewed and becomes the #1 selling app in the app store. And then imagine that Anderson Cooper starts talking about the CNN iPhone app on primetime. Furthermore, suppose that CNN, the most watched news network in the U.S. and in the world, starts plugging their iPhone app every 10 minutes, bragging about the facts that their app is well-reviewed and the #1 selling app in the app store.
This CNN iPhone app plug is simultaneously a plug for CNN, the iPhone, and, in the U.S., for AT&T. That’s what’s going on here. Verizon has so far avoided getting involved in a smartphone platform it doesn’t fully control, but now it has to get behind one.
You can chalk it all up to the iPhone, but it’s much more complicated than that. It has more to do with the U.S. 3G market, and how the iPhone 3G became the first big consumer smartphone during the U.S.’s first major 3G network rollout. Apple has set a good precedent with the iPhone 3G, iPhone OS 2.0+, and the app store. We’ll see how well Google can do to keep that going using a different model and a different philosophy.
October 18th, 2009 at 9:10 am
Obviously know one here has an inkling of an idea how GOOD marketing works. Mac vs PC commercials work because Apple is targeting a product that, in comparison is an inferior product. The advantage Apple has is in the fact that while Windows is a dominant platform, it still doesn’t out perform Mac OSX.
Verizon (and probably all others) will most likely fail simply because they will not be able to sustain the level of advertisment for the Droid phone without backing off ads for the other phones they promote. How will they bad mouth a phone for not doing what almost all of the other phones they promote don’t do and be able to sustain without pissing of the other phone manufacturers.
I think this is a bad move for Verizon & a huge plus for Apple!
October 18th, 2009 at 9:11 am
I could show this commercial to a hundred people on the street, and less than five would know it was about phones.
October 18th, 2009 at 9:15 am
Here is just my opinion as this seems to be an “opinion” blog. And in my opinion, most opinions are like a**holes, everyone has one and they all stink. That being said, this is merely an ad; nothing more and nothing less. Verizon is doing their job. They are marketing upcoming product(s) through their marketing or an outside firm. Good for them as they are supposed to market. There are so many iPhone fans here that are SO freaking narrow minded. There are so many more phones and more choices than your beloved iPhone. The problem that I see it is that AT&T is really banking on the success of one and only one phone based on all of your feelings out there. What would happen to AT&T if they lose their exclusivity on your beloved device? RUT ROH for you!!! Here is another problem; AT&T’s service is horrible. Here in the Phoenix metro area, they are the worst!! Everyone I know who has them, does not say nice things about them. They can all recite to me their multitude of dropped call zones. That is not good. I personally think that the iPhone is quite an excellent device, but I will not have it as long as it is on the AT&T network.
I left Sprint 2 years ago for a bad service coverage issue. I went to Verizon and couldn’t be happier. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that these are supposed to be cell phones first and peripheral devices second. If you can’t make and maintain constant contact on your phone calls, what the hell do you have anyway?
So my hats off to Verizon for doing their job and pre-marketing their new upcoming product. I will be waiting to see what it is. Oh, and I will be on my cell phone with uninterrupted, non-call dropping VZW service too.
Out!!
October 18th, 2009 at 9:55 am
I don’t have much to say… but you can have the greatest phone, but nothing compares to having a HORRIBLE network. LOL. at&t is a nightmare. I’ll pass on that… SPRINT OR VERIZON IS THE WAY TO GO.
October 18th, 2009 at 10:13 am
Now that many people have said that the AT&T network sucks people will start saying that it is great where they are. That is true networks are different depending on where you are. That is why the android os will do so much better since it will be available on all the major cell companies. This just makes better sense then limiting yourself to one cell company. If apple is smart they will get the iphone on all the major cell networks once their contract ends. Then I may think about going back to the iphone. Of course by then I may be a android fan…
October 18th, 2009 at 10:17 am
I think agree with Renee on this. Verizon is scared to even be lowering themselves to targeting the iPhone. They are are a carrier and they are singling out one manufacturer. Even the “there’s a map for that” ads, which are kind of directed at AT&T are actually really aimed at apple. It’s just weird. Again, they are a phone carrier going after a phone manufacturer. This is like T-Mobile running ads saying “ooooh I’m going to get you pantech!” This really proves we will never see a CDMA iPhone. I just don’t see Apple taking kindly to people opening mocking their ads.
The main problem with these ads are that your average consumer who doesn’t read this site or engadget regularly are not even going to know what the majority of the things they pointed out that the iphone doesn’t do are. Open development? I’ll echo Rene here, really? There are many problems with that:
I’m not going to go through each of the points, but for the most part most users are not going to know what the feature is, or why they should care about it. It seems like they asked their engineers for a list of things that the iphone can’t do that the droid does and this is what they came up with. The problem with engineers (and I am one) is that they know and care about a lot of things that the average person does not. That is the main reason why this ad campaign will fall flat on its face, the average consumer will not be able to relate to it.
October 18th, 2009 at 10:30 am
Let Verizon do what they believe they need to do in order to attract business. It may work on some folks but not others who truly want an iPhone and will settle for nothing less. While Verizon is taking the first shot and being less than truthful it doesn’t mean that Apple is not going to creatively pick apart their competition. If they want to play games they might want to consult Microsoft beforehand. They can tell Verizon a great deal about how Apple went after them relentlessly and picked apart their cash cow. I look forward to not only an answer from Apple but a bruising one at that.
October 18th, 2009 at 10:33 am
@Snapper “Mac vs PC commercials work because Apple is targeting a product that, in comparison is an inferior product.”
Opinions are not facts. You say it is inferior for one reason, the marketing has convinced you that it is. That’s what verizon is doing here. I recall what I learned in business school, “of you have a great product and bad marketing you will fail. If you have great marketing and a bad product you will succeed” if you don’t think that is true, ask a tv pitchman how many products they sell only for the customers to find out they don’t even work.
October 18th, 2009 at 10:37 am
1) Apple deserves a lot of credit for opening up many historically closed-by-carrier aspects of phones.
2) Apple is reluctant to take the next step and give up some of their own tight fisted control over the device.
3) Verizon perceives a market opportunity in that next step, has glommed onto Android, and created ads to target those potential customers.
Really? This is cause for all this outrage?
Granted, Verizon has a terrible track record for openness, but so did AT&T/Cingular 3 years ago. AT&T ceded that control to Apple because they needed a competitive edge against Verizon, who was kicking their butts. Now, the AT&T/iPhone SKU is doing so much damage to Verizon that they apparently embracing the next step of openness as their competitive edge.
This is a bad thing?
Personally, while I am skeptical of Verizon’s openness follow-through, I hope Droid is as open as other flavors of Android, that it succeeds wildly, and that its success forces Apple to loosen their own reins further. Anything less than an open Droid will not gain any traction against the iPhone, and anything more will make Apple step up their own openness game.
Either way, Apple has a positive way to respond, and all this gnashing of teeth about an ad campaign is simply embarrassing.
October 18th, 2009 at 10:50 am
AT&T is without a doubt the worste carrier. I finally left them for T-mobile out of pure neccessity after 3 years of putting up with dropped and missed calls. And I live in a 3G coverage area. I think these commercials are taking more jabs at AT&T. Ironically, T-mobile’s edge network is on par with AT&T’s 3G speeds. If only Apple would have partnered with a company other than AT&T from the beginning. We have a Mercedes Benz powered by Yugo.
October 18th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Ok #1 all networks suck in some areas and some networks are good in some areas. So to say a network sucks cause you get bad coverage in your area doesn’t mean the network sucks. I live in upstate NY. And had bad coverage with verizon. I have had AT&T for the past 5 years and have full 3g everywhere I go. And have not had a problem with the company. My gf has verizon and just switched to AT&T because of horrible coverage and dropped calls. Yes You read correctly she left verizon because of DROPPED CALLS AND BAD COVERAGE. Something you would read about someone doing the complete opposite. 2nd Some of us may have forgot that the worst carrier in the world(sprint) did the same tv ad with the samsung instinct. They are doing a WHERE ARE THEY KNOW? on the instinct. So I see nothing but FAIL here.
October 18th, 2009 at 11:59 am
YEP FAILUE!!! For verizon!!!!! This new android phone will come out and Steve Jobs will look at this phone with DISGUST!!! and throw it across th room, he will watch it shattered like every other Iphone “killer” to date!!! Then he Will go back to creating a new IPhone that will blow away androids mind llke hurrican Katrina!!! LONG LIVE THE REIN OF APPLE!!!! May everyone hail the smartphone dynasty!!!! Lol now I’m just waiting for apple to take over the world!!!
October 18th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Google and Verizon are partners
Apple and At&T are partners
Google Big Money Apple Cute Money
Android soon to be on three Carriers in the US iPhone OS on one Carrier in the US
YOU DO THE MATH
October 18th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Its better that Apple doesn’t respond to VzW’s ad campaign. If they respond then VzW is getting free press but if Apple ignores and just keeps on trucking then VzW just looks like a nobody as Sprint did.
VzW’s campaign just like Sprints only gives Apple more free press.
October 18th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
As long as apple makes profit and they have the best selling phone, they really don’t care whether or not google makes more money or android OS becomes more dominate in 2012 according to Gartner or whatever his name is
October 18th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Microsoft is richer then both companies and hasn’t been able to kill or hurt Apple…
Also I wouldn’t call a company that has been making 30billion a year .. cute money. Also how is Android OS being used on more phones better? For App developement that means the Apps must be made to run just as good on your worse phone as it does on your best.
That means that users that buy powerful android smartphones do not get the benefits of their hardware…
October 18th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
wow… This sounds really familiar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7nsBoqJ6s8
October 18th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
@Dan.f
And WHO is still making gaming consoles?
Mr. Nintendon’t!
These slam ads NEVER work, look at Sprint with the Instinct (flop) and Pre (less then stellar sales) and VZW Storm (huge amount of problems, flop). Talk big **** with little results.
October 18th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Im sorry but when i see slam ads (or even political campaigns) all that says to me is the thing or person doesnt have enough good to say about itself/themselves to convince people.
All this says is VZW is insecure about their crappy phone offerings as of lately and know theyre getting killed with the iphone, and now theyre desperate to get some attention to their phones.
These types of ads never make me want to buy that product, and Im sure VERY few people will drop their iphone for this Droid device. The iphone sells itseld, it doesnt need to go slamming other devices that are touted “iphone killers” and never have- such as the Instinct with the cheap shots at the iphone, Pre, and Storm.
October 18th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
“all that says to me is the thing or person doesnt have enough good to say about itself/themselves to convince people.”
hey, I’m a Mac ! … wait
October 18th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
AGAIN not a valid comparison. This is VZW attacking the iphone, a CARRIER attacking a SINGLE PHONE. This isnt Android going after iphone, its not a generic Android ad as its VZW Droid based.
DO you not see how much power the iphone must have if the #1 carrier as a whole must attack a single device?
October 18th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
notice how ALL the others who have tried the “slam” ads- Instinct, Pre, Storm- have NOT come close to matching up?
These types of ads DONT work, its been proven time and time again.
Name one ad youve ever seen witht he iphone going after another device? NEVER. They focus on the apps and what the phone can do instead of having to sink low enough to attack the other phone. And its STILL the top selling phone globally.
October 18th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Umm..the iphone is the total sum of Apple’s presence in the smartphone market. And is the flagship phone of AT&T. For many, it’s the whole reason they’re on AT&T.
It’s the reference phone bloggers and reviewers use. It’s the only smartphone that the mainstream knows well.
So, attacking the iphone is much more than going against a single device. Palm never got aggressive or even sniffed this kind of anti iphone marketing beyond itunes syncing. Sprint and the Instinct confined their marketing online.
It remains to be seen if this marketing will actually be any good or not. Me thinks the mainstream doesn’t care about what they claim “i doesn’t” do.
October 18th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
One thing they didn’t say about the Droid or android or whatever:
iDon’t have marketshare yet.
October 18th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
I totally agree with everyone on the basis that its Verizon, who has some of the most boring phones out there, going at the iPhone. Now as far as Android goes, you can not deny that they’re coming up fast and is WAY more open and free than the Apple. Apple needs to lighten up and let the iPhone breathe a little bit. Its so closed and dry compared to any Android device. Oh, and i LOVED my iPhone.
October 18th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
I had a T-mobile G1 prior to getting an iPhone 3GS. As an avid iPhone lover and enthusiast, I’m still not ashamed to say that the Android operating system is one of the most feature packed, easy to use, functional OS’s on the market, and it keeps getting better.
Apple better watch its back.
October 18th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
@klmsu19
Of course we see how much power that one device (the iPhone) has. So does Verizon, for that matter. That is why the comparison is completely valid. Though I am sure if you post the rules for what sorts of comparisons and competitions are allowed, the FTC will be happy to enforce your laws.
October 18th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Let switch topic. From what I understand VerizonWireless was offer to carry the Apple iPhone prior to At&T. I assuming Verizon wanted more control over the device than Apple was willing to give. Its been years later and both company have yet to come to terms on a deal. Whats the hell is the hold up. I look at this deal as a win win situation for both companies. Imagine a iPhone on LTE next year.
October 18th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
@Joe McG
October 18th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
I think many companies have to attack apple on their marketing campains. Apple has been attacking for a very long time. This lie of apple being a cool customer friendly and superior product provider should stop. Because apple is not!!!! I want to see more ads like this.
October 18th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
LISTEN UP. This ad campaign is GOOD for us all.
Stop being defensive and join the offensive!!! Why? As much as you like the iPhone, it is still far from perfect. Competition is what’s going to push Apple (and others) to build even better phones. Imagine if Android, Palm, and RIMM all disappear tomorrow, what’s the incentive for Apple to innovate?
October 18th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
No, what IS good is actually having good phones and LESS talking sh*t about it. Put up or shut up as they say. Talk is cheap and a cowards way
October 18th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
guess this can confirm one thing, vz and apple will not bring a vz branded iphone.
October 18th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Man, I have to admit, this site is going downhill. Any anti-iphone news stories you all sound like whiny little ******* and have to attack. Nevermind the fact that Apple attacks everyone all the time with their ads, but when it’s done to Apple, people start to cry as shown by the poster of this article.
You even nitpick on points Verizon. Fact #1: the iPhone can’t run multiple apps. Pre-installed Apple software does not count and you know damn well that Verizon is referring to third-party apps, but you just had to try to make it seem like the iPhone could. Oo… you can run music and browse the web. Well, so can every other phone, except others let you keep running things in the background behind pre-installed Apple built utilities.
Fact: Apple doesn’t allow open development. Verizon is definitely being a bit of a hypocrite with this post, but then again that’s not with that point is about. Apple restricts the bejesus out of developers in regards to what they can do. Even worse, app can’t integrate into the iPhone OS like apps for BlackBerry, Android, Pre, etc. can.
Fact: Night shots. There’s no damn flash. End of story. Stop talking about ISO and all that stupid **** when you know they were just referring to not even sporting a flash.
I could go on and on, but seriously, go cry in a corner.
October 18th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
what about this: droid dont: multi-touch droid dont: have 80,000+ apps droid dont: have the worlds #1 music player built in (iPod) droid dont: have the amazing gaming graphics the iphone “iDoes” droid dont: have auto-white balance and on-tap auto-focus droid dont: render webpages nearly as fast as the iphone 3gs and droid dont: have near the amount of APIs like the iphone sdk has
October 18th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
a portable mp3 player is nothing special. most phone even dumb phone will play mp3’s
as for web pages, droid on same hardware, cpu base, will render the same web page.
ajlp09 i dont know you should look into android and the same webkit web browser iphone uses. it might be re branded to something else but its the same engine powering it.
October 18th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
HHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA ALL YOU APPLE FANBOYS ARE A RIOT!! lol get over it .. i agree with a few points .. if the iphone had a physical keyboars and ran backroud apps.. itd be the best phone ever made.. there are shortcomings ps. i have an iphone
October 18th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
At kimsu19 you have just described apple.
October 18th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
As for the camera flash, I would love to see Apple improve upon the below article and make it work fully
http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/new-york-uni-researchers-create-invisible-camera-flash-20090720/
October 18th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
@Dman…well speaking from exprience and research, I drew my opinion from working with local business owners and owning an iMac myself now for two years after owning Windows based PCs for nearly 25 years prior. Windows is inferior because it’s an inferior product.
And you can toss that old school marketing 101 **** out the window. Mcrosoft has marketed Windows to the hilt and continues to lose market share! That’s not because Apple markets better, it’s because they make a better product!
October 18th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
@Dman…Try this…pick up The Purple Cow, read it, learn a thing or two about real sustainable marketing then talk to me about pitchmen who watch those crappy products fall off…very…quickly!
October 18th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Sounds like you are on the defense! This is the best compliment for Android. Thank you!
October 18th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
The majority of people will watch these commercials, eyes glazed over, having no clue what the hell it’s even about. Verizon really shouldn’t play apples game here cause they can’t win. Apples commercials are always simple and straight forward any ****** can figure out what they’re about. This though….no one cares….sorry
October 18th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
I LIKE CAPS LOCK
October 18th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
@Lolipopjones
i really dont see how the hll youre a verizon employee…all you do is talk about how vzw is trash..AND YOU WORK FOR THEM!! WTF!? makes no sense what so ever… you either really su ck at your job or youre not a vzw employee and you just say that bc you think your opinions and non factual statements mean anymore than another user on this site..either way youre a lame a*.
also, are you really trying to justify how multi-rasking on a phone is a bad idea??please tell me youre not.
im sure the common use knows a bit about what theyre using. its the illiterate user that wouldnt know why his phone is running slow or acting up.
October 18th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
id switch to version if the phone came out 90% what the iphone is now i hate at&t love my iphone but whats the point of loving a phone that never runs at the 3g speed i pay for.
October 18th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
This post is has more butt-hurt than homophobic man who has been bound and gagged and left in a bath-house…..
October 18th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
I don’t think VZW understands who the iphone market caters too. This ad is not them.
October 18th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
I love my iPhone, but posts like this one remind me why I hate fanboys. Did you guys really need to take the time to respond to the “lies” in that commercial? Let’s be honest, they are fair points. Apple DOES NOT allow open development. The iPhone DOES NOT allow running simultaneous apps (your justification that it runs core apps like phone and mail at the same time is laughable).
Listen, the iPhone is great. I love mine. I think it’s even better jailbroken which basically confirms the phone isn’t perfect out of the box (far from it). Android is doing some great things and I look forward to the competition. Now, let’s not cry when more ads pointing out the flaws in our beloved phones come out.
October 18th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
Verizon is desperate to find something comparable. If something even close to as good as the i-phone is available on verizon, I would leave. Love the i-phone but hate AT&T and there horrible service. I think most people that have had verizon before coming to AT&T would agree.
October 18th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
I for one hope that Verizon’s phone lives up to the hype. At this point, I’m loyal to Apple. I love the simple, clean interface and I like the fact that everything works seamlessly. But competition is always healthy and the eventual winners will be us, the consumers. Does the iPhone have it’s opportunities? Yes, of course. But why would they be in a hurry to address them if there is no competition? Bring ‘em on I say!
October 18th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
ive been a happy android user for about a year now. android is a great OS. the g1 has gotten better with each update. when i got the g1, there was no video camera, but after a FREE software update, poof i had a video camera. no need to go out and buy the g1 3gs or any of that nonsense. im kinda pissed that VZW is giving android a bad name. if iphoners could break away from their flashy, battery-draining parking-space-finder for a moment, they could see that android has tremendous functionality.
October 18th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
ive been a happy android user for about a year now. android is a great OS. the g1 has gotten better with each update. when i got the g1, there was no video camera, but after a FREE software update, poof i had a video camera. no need to go out and buy the g1 3gs or any of that nonsense. im kinda pissed that VZW is giving android a bad name. if iphoners could break away from their flashy, battery-draining parking-space-finder for a moment, they could see that android has tremendous functionality. oh yea, ive always been able to send and receive picture messages, ahahaha
October 18th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
I bet u could copy paste since day one
October 18th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
Nice ads. They should make it clearer that they were attacking the iPhone if they were trying to reach the average consumer. I hope this pressures Apple more to give us multitasking at least on the next gen iPhone. What’s surprising to me is that they chose to promote this rather than the Storm 2 after so many leaks and an inevitable launch.
October 18th, 2009 at 11:46 pm
Well my sleek (not flashy), non-battery draining, find parking in downtown Charleston iDon’t iDevice iDoesn’t keep me from realizing the power of Android. My questions still lie with how ANYONE honestly thinks VZ’s market attack on the iPhone will actually work.
What about all the other phones VZ has to promote. How can you market one phone pointing out that it has a “real” keyboard when you are about to release one that doesn’t? Why are you…A service provider…attacking a company that doesn’t provide service? How do you plan to continue a marketing blitz for one phone with nearly 15 other manufacturers making phones for your service when the company you are attacking only has to promote one?
This IMO is not a smart marketing move for VZ and will not help anyone, but Apple!
October 19th, 2009 at 12:20 am
even though i do own an iphone, this ad is pretty funny and a bit clever. i think android really has something but its verizon i dont like. and the pre’s multitasking is really nice. i wish iphone had that. (i use backgrounder but its not the same). i give this ad 2 thumbs. and yea this post is fan boyish
October 19th, 2009 at 12:30 am
Oh **** How america is easily brainwashed In this corner apple fan boys In this corner iphone haters Man man man Its a a phone people we have multiple carriers and multiple device choices for a reason NOT EVERYONE HAS THE SAME NEEDS now…please get over arguing about cell phones. Cause the loser won’t be verizon or apple but you the customer who has lost to another ad-campaign =]
October 19th, 2009 at 1:32 am
For what it’s worth, I asked two people who are not iPhone-centric to view this commercial. Their one and only take-away: “Looks like this ‘Droid’ phone may be the new ‘thing’ over the iPhone.”
That was it. No more, no less. I think Verizon accomplished just what they set out to do with the ad. Now, to wait and see…
Incidently, I don’t understand why people frequent an iPhone blog and complain that iPhone loyalists express their opinions. The only “whining” I have consistently seen here comes from iPhone critics/skeptics.
I don’t think many people feel the iPhone is a perfect device. But, that does not forfeit anyone’s right to disagree with Verizon’s marketing strategy.
I find myself singing along with the commercial, btw. It is catchy. Then, I play with my iPhone.
October 19th, 2009 at 2:23 am
@Rene
Just as we really dont want the FCC to involve itself in net neutrality, the end result will be no more unlimited data plans and rates will go up
October 19th, 2009 at 3:10 am
as this commercial goes, its actually interesting since it goes into tech details, that most ppl that first go into a smart phone dont ask.
i know most people dont care if an app cant run in the background some do, the tech savvy do, the ones that want more power.
i know most people also dont care, or factor on keyboards, some want a touch screen only others want the choice.
the interesting part is the commercial kinda of leaves you hanging if you dont follow cell phones. which is kinda of funny, who are they selling it to. kids? techies? geared for?
October 19th, 2009 at 3:14 am
p.s verizon should of included google in the add, most people have no clue what android is.
October 19th, 2009 at 4:20 am
What a totally bullshit commercial-its based on totally misleading statements. The iPhone DOES have a REAL keyboard-if you type on it its real.
It DOES run simultaneous apps, just not all of them so it can conserve your battery!
You can play music while you surf the internet, you can check the address book or email while on a call, etc.- that’s simultaneous.
The iPHone takes GREAT pics with a great user pinpoint focus feature, has outstanding video recording capability, along with video editing, so what if its not 5 megapixel because its still excellent quality.
I have a choice of 80,000+ apps and can place them on any screen I like, now thats what I call customizing!
They are kidding about widgets right? When I have 80,000+ apps, why do I need widgets?
Developers have created over 80,000 apps using the SDK – that makes development VERY OPEN.
I just shot video and pics at a concert, in the “dark”, and they came out great. Ok, you got me on the battery but is never once been a problem…
BTW – Verizon is the most repressive of all the carriers as to what capabilities they have allowed on phones in the past. On my last smart phone, they required a data plan just to download photos to my computer because they disabled the bluetooth function for doing it. Drop dead Verizon – you don’t deserve my business!
October 19th, 2009 at 4:59 am
“TiPb asked a few non-geek friends and most of them didn’t even realize Verizon was targeting the iPhone in these ads”
Okay…someone who runs theiphoneblog.com asks you to look at an ad that starts off with ‘iDont’ or similar ‘i’ words and you cant figure out that this might just be about the iPhone. If your going to write an article on your blog, please dont be patronising. There are merits from both sides but your blatent non-truths do not help your arguments.
October 19th, 2009 at 5:14 am
I don’t see what you’re all getting upset about, most of the commericials points were spot on. Maybe Apple will take note and give us some of the things we’ve been asking for like customizing.
October 19th, 2009 at 5:33 am
RE: Rene Ritchie – “Funny – I did an impromptu survey of non-geeks and most didn’t realize it was the iPhone bring targeted. Is that bad for Verizon or were they targeting geeks?”
Is that all you can keep saying about this commercial? Yes they are aiming this at people who already have iPhones. Does that mean their points are wrong?
-no real keyboard: true -no simultaneous apps : true -no open development: true -no widgets: true (how can you NOT know what that is?) -no customizing: true -no removeable battery: so sadly true
They all seem very obviously and unquestionably true to me. I guess when you don’t allow your fanboyism cloud your judgement you can see clear enough to admit the truth rather than try to twist it by point the finger at Verizon.
October 19th, 2009 at 7:38 am
My wife who is not a geek knew the ad targeted the iPhone but had no clue what phone or provider was doing the targeting.
October 19th, 2009 at 7:48 am
Couldn’t pass on this:
@ajlp09 droid dont: have near the amount of APIs like the iphone sdk has
LOL. If you knew anything about development, you wouldn’t have said that…
October 19th, 2009 at 8:44 am
A little ironic that you seem to be criticizing the ad is targeting geeks which you claim isn’t a huge market, and yet you run a geek website? I’m a 3GS user and all of the points made by the ad are spot-on; good for vzw/moto to point out the shortcomings of the iPhone which are often overlooked….how about another one:
iCan’t last more than than a couple hours of regular usage before my tiny battery dies…
I’m happy with my device but as great as it is there are definitely some shortcomings which can rightly be attacked…just as I’m sure there will be with the Droid when it comes out. I’m all for more competition, will just lead to greater devices in the years to come.
October 19th, 2009 at 8:59 am
They make a couple of good points in reference to the iPhones shortcomings, however I hope Apple takes a look at it and buries once and for all with the next update!
October 19th, 2009 at 9:21 am
Let me see if I can offer a better (non-fan boy) realistic breakdown of why this commercial while “cool” just doesn’t hit the mark.
• iDon’t have a real keyboard: Does this matter? Apparently to some it does. It seems that this point has been beat to death, but nearly every (talked about) phone since the iPhone has integrated a “fake” keyboard into their device. Personally…I like my touch screen keyboard and had no problem adapting to using it. Not to mention many could argue that keys larger than your finger tip would need to exist to be called a “real” keyboard.
• iDon’t run simultaneous apps: Not gonna split hairs here, the iPhone really doesn’t do this, but does it matter to they millions of people who bought an iPhone or plan to buy one? That’s the real question.
• iDon’t take night shots: This is one I’m gonna have to call VZ out on. Your 5.0 flash ready camera will not take very good night shots either unless a) someone knows anything about how a camera works (no one here seems to) and b) the ISO is adjustable and it has a good shutter speed. Futhermore I can take just as good a picture with a 2.0 megapixel camera as I can with a 5.0 megapixel camera.
• iDon’t allow open development: It seems that with 75,000+ apps in the iTunes store, developers seem to like what Apple has done with development. By the way, they make up only a fraction of those that have bought iPhones so it would seem that no one really cares about open development for the iPhone (or any other phone for that matter) except for the geeks arguing about here and abroad.
• iDon’t customize: Again…who cares except for geeks.
• iDon’t run widgets: See below.
• iDon’t have a removable battery: It seems that this is an issue that Apple can’t dodge, but has it ever occurred to anyone that uses ANY phone that maybe (just maybe) you should have a life outside of your “smartphone”? I have had the battery on my 3G die one time and it was before I had bought my car charger.
The whole point here being that. The new VZ Droid commercial is still a bad marketing ploy by VZ. Not because it doesn’t hit the mark in it’s points, but because being marketed to the wrong crowd (users instead of developers) and because they will not be able to sustain this type of marketing without ruining marketing (and relationships) for other devices.
This should have been a Google commercial, not a Verizon commercial. Either way I highly doubt this new device will do anything to those that own or plan to own an iPhone. If it’s any good, it will have some great initial sales, but it’s going to take a pretty powerful device to put a dent in iPhone sales especially on a global level.
October 19th, 2009 at 9:56 am
im hooked with my iphone and i cant live without it. however, iphone has still many features i would like to have that my buddy’s verizon htc touch pro 2 has like removable storage, real keyboard, dual gsm/cdma capability and lots of customization. for years, i craved for mms and it came so late. i just feel iphone fanatics are being held hostage…..so we can buy more iphones for each new features. we are all being suck3r3d by Steve!
October 19th, 2009 at 10:29 am
hahaaha iphone fanbois getting butthurt over the iphone being old news!
October 19th, 2009 at 10:32 am
I think it’s a cute commercial. It’s always good to see “smaller” products go up against “big” ones. (e.g. Apple 1984 commercial against IBM; Apple versus PC commercials, and now Android VZW versus the iPhone)
I hope Android challenges the iPhone market. Better products will be developed for us iPhone enthusiasts. Why innovate when you already dominate the current market?
October 19th, 2009 at 10:40 am
so i guess it’s safe to say that verizon burnt all it’s bridges and will not get an iPhone anytime soon. looks like i’ll be switching to at&t next year…
October 19th, 2009 at 10:53 am
@Gregory Foster: So, you want to see the phone? http://gizmodo.com/5384796/verizon-motorola-droid-first-impressions-the-android-device-to-beat
I’ve been lamenting the fact for a while that, while Verizon has the best network, they lag behind in terms of having great phones. I’m hoping the droid will change all that. I’m also hoping that the Storm 2 will bring back some street cred for BlackBerry. So far, the buzz is good.
Enjoy your oh-so-incredible iPhone on the world’s most craptacular network. I wouldn’t switch back to AT&T for a free iPhone with free service. AT&T is THAT BAD.
October 19th, 2009 at 10:56 am
@snapper
I’m glad you prefaced your post by saying it was “non fanboy”. I knew immediately it was going to be.
Just a few comments.
iDon’t have a real keyboard: I like the iPhone keyboard, but there are a significant amount of people that would prefer a hardware keyboard. How can it be argued that a phone with a touchscreen keyboard AND a hardware keyboard would be worse?
iDon’t run siultaneous apps: It clearly matters to people, otherwise it wouldn’t be a topic on this site everyday.
iDon’t take night shots: The commercial isn’t suggesting the camera can take night shots because it is 5.0 MP. It is probably going to have a flash. I don’t see how you can bash the camera when you haven’t tried it.
iDon’t customize: Plenty of people care about this. One of the biggest reasons to jailbreak is winterboard. Are you suggesting the ability to customize is worse?
iDon’t run widgets: iDon’t know what the hell that means.
iDon’t have a removable battery: A removable battery would be better. Case closed. I’m getting sick of attaching a battery pack to my phone. Dumb.
I have no idea why you think commercials should be targeting developers. That is the worst idea I have ever heard. Anybody who put out a commercial during the ALCS and NFL football targeting developers would be retarded. They want to SELL THE PHONE. The Android marketplace will take care of itself.
One of the biggest things I think is missing in the iPhone is actually the “Contact Card” feature. Each card would hold all of your contacts communications, whether it be via Phone Calls, Emails, SMS, Facebook, Twitter, etc; and it’s all native. This is a really nice feature.
Anyway, I have a 3GS and love it, but I am really excited to see the HTC HD2 and Droid. The bottom line is: if the phones are nice, they will sell. If they suck, they won’t. Can’t wait to see.
October 19th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
agree with shawn and berg 100%. competition will be good for the consumers but apple and att are profiting from this installment of developments. they could have offered all these features in 2006 or 2007. only if htc makes phone that can run iphone’s OS. that would be awesome! only if i can get my 16gb microsd, a real keyboard, better batteries and world phone capability to my iphone 3gs – wow!
October 19th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
“As long as apple makes profit and they have the best selling phone, they really don’t care “
But……Apple does NOT have the best-selling phone. Not even close. Not even in the USA.
Apple’s phone sales are dwarfed by Nokia’s. Even the RIM Blackberry outsells the iPhone in the US. Worldwide, Apple’s iPhone sales are a tiny fraction of the phone market.
Apple makes good products. But they are a mere niche player in every market they have entered except the (fast-dying) mp3 player market.
There will always be a market for Apple’s pretty looking, expensive, dumbed-down products. Bang and Olufsen, for example, have dominated this market in the audio biz for decades.
But it is a niche market. And it will always be a niche market. Apple is poised to continue to be profitable. But they have never been a company that has dominated any market (except for music players). Never.
October 19th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
@Joe McG (a few comments, back atcha):
• iDon’t…keyboard: Never argued that a phone with both would be worse. I’m simply stating that the iPhone does have a keyboard. It’s touch screen, but it’s still a keyboard no different than comparing it to a full keyboard used on a desktop. Different type and adaptable.
• iDon’t…apps: Your saying it clearly matters because people HERE bring it to topic daily. The total make up of users here is what .01% of iPhone users???
• iDon’t…night shots: The point I was making was doubled with the 5-megapixel point (all camera related, but I’ll separate them here). Touting 5MP is pointless when the quality of picture will be almost nearly the same. A (slightly) higher MP camera is really a simple marketing ploy and doesn’t hold much weight in picture taking world. Much higher MP cameras will have all the necessary features needed to take a truly “higher quality” picture. All of those features plus a much higher MP would be needed for bragging rights.
• iDon’t…customize: Yes plenty people care about this and there are plenty of geeks out there! I’m not suggesting the ability to customize is worse (worse than what by the way), just stating that I don’t really know if it’s a point that will sway people away from the iPhone.
• iDon’t…widgets: Umm…yeah…huh?
• iDon’t…battery: Better to whom?
I never said that “commercials should be targeting developers”. I said that this commercial is marketed to the wrong crowd. I say that because the average user doesn’t give a rats *** about multitasking apps, teddy bear icons, and a home screen that drains the battery showing the Yankee’s box scores and the weather.
Most of these bullet points are things that make developers (and geeks) drool, not the average user. I am not an average user nor a geek (a **** techy as my wife says) and I really don’t care about them. Sure a removable battery, higher MP camera w/flash would be nice, but not enough to make me switch from my iPhone to it. That is why I said VZ missed the mark. **One other point: if targeting the developer market is such a foolish idea, why even mention anything about open development (just curious)?
That commercial was a high price to pay for an ad that results in people (with the exception of those here) not know what the hell it is! The only way to “SELL THE PHONE” would be to create a remarkable product…they tend to sell themselves.
So HTC Fanboy I will end this comment (typed from my iPhone 3G keyboard) by agreeing with your bottom line. We will wait and see.
October 19th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
…btw Joe…totally get why your an HD2 fanboy…that device is sweet. Just wish it was the same interface on a different OS.
October 19th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
@Igenius your a moron how many different phones does Nokia have out there? About 50 Now how many does apple have out there? ONE Think before you yap. That’s a huge problem with you people that comment on here. Of Course they sell more phone. people are dumb.
October 20th, 2009 at 12:39 am
The proof is in the pudding. End of story. http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=AAPL
October 20th, 2009 at 7:45 am
“@Igenius your a moron how many different phones does Nokia have out there? About 50 Now how many does apple have out there? ONE Think before you yap.”
I am aware of that. That is one of the reasons why Apple is in third place in the smartphone market. They make only a one-size-fits-all product.
And last I heard, they had 3 phones in their current lineup, with very little difference between them, all designed the same type of user (that is, for some sort of lowest-common-denominator type of user).
Tell me – do you like the fact that you cannot run all apps in the background? The capability is denied to you, because of fears that other, stupid users will not understand how to use the feature. There’s WAY too much of that on the iPhone. At least for me.
October 20th, 2009 at 9:02 am
I’m fairly certain that CNN is NOT the most way he’d news source in the world. I would gues that the BBC and al-jazeera are bigger than CNN. meanwhile, foxnews has more viewers than cnn, msnbc, and cnbc combined
October 20th, 2009 at 9:48 am
Wanna know why Verizon never accepted the Apple offer before AT&T? Two reasons, subsidized price. It take 17 months per iPhone user to make up for the discount (horrible business sense), and 2, Apple controls contact and get’s all the money for the sold apps. Only AT&T receives the data user dollar. No thanks.
October 20th, 2009 at 9:50 am
*content = contact
October 20th, 2009 at 10:55 am
@ igenius I could care less about running anything in the background. Apps open and close so fast on this thing. The things that can run in the background are good enough for me. Why don’t you ask a pre owner if they enjoy running things in the background. They will say ya it’s great but my battery is dead by 12:00 pm. My battery is not that great now! why would I want to make it worse
And last I heard, they had 3 phones in their current lineup, with very little difference between them, all designed the same type of user (that is, for some sort of lowest-common-denominator type of user)
I’ve been in computers for over 20 years and have had one of the first smartphones out there. So your comment on…….. the lowest common denominator type user. And the comment……..The capability is denied to you, because of fears that other, stupid users will not understand how to use the feature. There’s WAY too much of that on the iPhone. At least for me. Was a total waste.
October 20th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
@G1 lover What are you doing here? His is the iPhone blog beat it.
October 20th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
“@ igenius I could care less about running anything in the background. “
Ok, fine. For some folks, 128k of RAM is plenty for the desktop, too. I used that amount of RAM for several years.
If you accept this unnecessary limitation of the iPhone, (the inability to run apps in the background), then that is fine. No argument.
Me, personally, I’d love to listen to internet radio while reading websites (perhaps looking up a Wiki entry while listening to a news story), or while my passenger is using a map. Too often while streaming live concerts I need to consult a website, and it is inconvenient, to say the least, to have to relaunch the original app, find my way to where I was, and continue listening.
Again – if the crippled functionality meets your style of use, that is fine.
“My battery is not that great now! why would I want to make it worse”
Because you could occasionally run apps in the background, when the battery/convenience ratio allows or demands it. As of now, you have no choice. Are you saying that an extra ability would be bad? Even though it might come in handy occasionally, and even though you could use it or not, depending on circumstances?
“I’ve been in computers for over 20 years and have had one of the first smartphones out there. So your comment on…….. the lowest common denominator type user. “
I’m not sure how or why your history is relevant to Apple’s target demographic.
BTW, not that it matters, but the first time I used a computer was in the early 1970’s – a timeshared mainframe that I interacted with via a Teletype from about 50 miles away. I still have some of my stuff from that era on papertape laying around. The first programming language I studied formally was FORTRAN – still using a teletype, but by then, the guys behind the glass wall could load your programs into the washing-machine sized hard drives for you, if you made an appointment. My first home computer was an Apple //c, which I bought many years before you first touched a keyboard. It was sweet – a black and green 9 inch monitor, 128k of RAM, an external disk drive so I wouldn’t have to swap floppies. Indeed, it worked great on the (pre-Mosaic era) internet.
I remember folks who argued that color monitors were an unnecessary expense for business use. And that a 1 Gig drive was more disk space than anybody in their right mind could use. Now you’re telling me that a basic function, running apps in the background, is a bad thing?.
Wanna buy my old used //c? I’ll throw in a 14.4 modem and a box of 5 1/4 inch formatted floppy disks!
October 20th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
“I don’t support open development”. To which most consumers are saying “I don’t give a ****”.
October 20th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
@Igenius
iPhone is designed for the lowest common denominator user? Yeah or about 98% of consumers who could give a **** about “open development” and running multiple apps. When are people going to realize that the vast number of consumers simply do not give a **** about this ****
October 20th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
I feel soory for all of you I-Phone fanboys.
I am currently using the HTC Imagio until the Omnia 2 comes out.
If you fanboys really think the I-Phone comapres to either the HTC Imagio,Samsung Omnia 2 or Droid then you are all in serious denial.
For example. Omnia 2 vs I-Phone.
Custom Roms- Omnia 2 Memory- Omnia 2 Battery Life-Omnia 2 Camera-Omnia 2(by the way you can take excellent night shots with dual-flash) Interface-Omnia 2(4 to choose from) Screen-Omnia 2 in a landslide,bigger(3.7) and better(Amoled)
I can keep going.
October 20th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Therealtruth Says:
October 20th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
@Igenius
iPhone is designed for the lowest common denominator user? Yeah or about 98% of consumers who could give a **** about “open development” and running multiple apps. When are people going to realize that the vast number of consumers simply do not give a **** about this ****
If you don’t care about running multiple apps or open development why would you buy a smartphone in the first place?
Oh that’s right you bought an I-Phone
nevermind.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
@igenius
“that’s right you bought an iPhone”. Holy ****!!!! Did you just come up with that one!!!!! Very clever. So it’s only a smartphone when it runs multiple apps and is open? Should we call the iPhone a not so smart phone? Or should we go as far as a dumb phone? For the average consumer the iPhone is a smart enough phone. The average user wants something they can turn on and use. Apple is the master of minimalism. The phone is part of your life. The phone is not your life. I’m sorry but not many people really care about muliple apps running….open development….they just don’t care…..sorry…. For instance my wife is a pretty smart person but she has no idea what thus verizon commercial is even about. When I try and explain it she responds with “who gives a ****? That’s their selling point?”. Then she just chuckles a little. This is the reaction of the majority. Yours is of the minority. That’s all
October 20th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
@Nate
Yeah you can keep rattling off all the phones that a “better” than the iPhone…..you can go on and on until you eventually realize that no one cares. People like their iPhones. A lot of people. None of the phones you name will overtake the iPhone in terms of sales. Deal with it.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
@Nate
oh and don’t feel sorry for us…. You don’t feel sorry for the guy winning the race do you? Feel sorry for verizon and their pathetic attempts at attacking the iPhone. A Carrier is attacking a single device ? There’s a real air of desperation in that don u think?
October 20th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
@Therealtruth
iPhone is a top seller in the US.
Samsung and Blackberry along with HTC are global sellers.
As for feeling sorry for Verizon why would I? VZW is the top wireless company despite AT&T having the Iphone. VZW has 4 phones that blow the iPhone away. Why do you think VZW told Apple to take a hike when they tried to run over VZW like they did AT&T in negotiations?
As far as your wife is concerned maybe she’s better off with a Rouge,at least you won’t be throwing money away on a data plan since she doesn’t know how to utilize a smartphone.
But since your so smart why has AT&T lost ground to VZW since launching the iPhone?
How come everyone wants an Android phone and iPhone has fallen into the back of consumers minds?
Probably because it took 3 years just to get copy and paste and picture messaging, two features that have been on smartphones for several years.
October 20th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
@Nate
My Wife might not know how to use a “smart phone” but she has no problem using an iphone. Thats my point. She’s on the the thing constantly. hardly ever uses her laptop anymore….It’s actually kind of annoying now that i think about it….Everyone wants an android phone? Is That so? Iphone has fallen into the back of consumers minds? Are you sure about that? Most consumers havent a clue what an “android” even is….dont kid yourself The iphone is a cultural phenomenon……..Oh and if 7.4 million iphones sold in the last quarter…..up something like 40% from the previous is a sign of interest waning……well I think apple will take it….And honestly you don’t think verizon regrets not taking the iphone……anyone with half a brain will tell you it was at the very least a bit of a blunder….
October 20th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
ROLMAO!!! What a bunch of geeks!
October 20th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
@snapper
best comment I’ve seen on here….
October 21st, 2009 at 7:45 am
“None of the phones you name will overtake the iPhone in terms of sales. Deal with it.”
Why do sales numbers matter to a device user? The device itself is what matters.
But if sales numbers matter to you, please know that the iPhone is only in third place. More folks buy blackberries than buy iPhones. And Nokia’s sales make Apple’s sales look like a rounding error.
Not that it matters.
October 21st, 2009 at 9:58 am
@igenius
Of course to the end user sales don’t really matter. However with a lot of people constanty predicting the iPhones demise, I figured I’d point it out. Yeah and I didn’t realize that blackberry and Nokia only made a single phone and sold more than 7.4 million of them in the last quarter. Interesting.
October 21st, 2009 at 1:28 pm
All of you are just sad! ITS A CELL PHONE! If you like it buy if you dont then dont buy it!
October 21st, 2009 at 2:35 pm
As much as I love the iPhone, and wish I still had mine, the lack of service, and dropped calls was enough for me to go back to verizon (in my area VZW is much stronger). That being said, i love the iPhone, and would be first in line to get one should it come to vzw, but since its locked into at&t for another year, Im looking forward to a phone that does everything I need, simply, stylishly ( i think the droid actually looks cool, but I prefer a virtual keyboard), and on a network that works when i need it to. The ad targets the iPhone, but i dont believe its meant to convert the hardcore iPhone lovers. Nothing can do that, just like no PC will ever get me away from my macbook pro. However, i do think its going to target those iPhone users who are just waiting for a viable option on a better network, and the verizon users who really want a decent phone with open development and apps. Since Android isn’t limited to one phone, over the course of time, the number of apps could grow exponentially and be stronger in time.
For now only time will tell, but lets look at this phone for what it is, another option to the iphone, and its sure to push apple to push their OS to even BETTER levels.
October 21st, 2009 at 3:01 pm
To all those people that say a virtual keyboard is real give it a rest. To those saying they prefer having a virtual keyboard to a slider… The droid has both.
I used to think the iphone was the shizz until I got the HTC Hero. The droid is going to be a much better phone than that (the Hero) is. Some very smart people in the mobile space are calling for the Android OS to be #2 in the world for marketshare ahead of everyone save Symbian by 2012. I think It will happen sooner.
Keep in mind Android phones have only been available for a little under a year and look how far it’s come thanks to open developement in that very short time.
Apple needs to wake up and get moving. /me shorts appl
October 21st, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Jesus, guys, be careful you don’t injure yourself while bending over backwards to suck Apple’s proverbial *******.
Before anyone calls me an iPhone hater or whatever, I should mention that I wrote this post on my iPhone.
October 21st, 2009 at 4:20 pm
ok, this is hilarious….
I agree with some of you. iPhone is really not a smart phone. Its a fun phone, a very fun phone but not smart. Overall, Apple sucks in a lot of things but they win over by simplicity of their designs. If you want design and fun, get an iPhone
if you want a smart phone, get something else
October 21st, 2009 at 4:30 pm
this is the stupidest post I’ve ever seen… Don’t get me wrong, I love my iphone, but lets face it, everything in that commercial is true.. and arguments like “we will see if verizon holds true” is not an argument, its a fact
and again lets face it, not a single person on this webpage would keep ATT if verizon had the iphone, now that verizon is finally realizing that they would make much more money being open, its a no brainer to switch to the superior network
October 21st, 2009 at 4:52 pm
@Jim
yeah the virtual keyboard certainly isn’t real. Actually I’m using telekenesis to post this from my iPhone. As for having both a virtual keyboard and a slider…..why? It just adds to the bulk of the phone. One or the other. Make up your mind already. And honestly Enoch already with androids coming market place domination over iPhone. How many android devices will there be to choose from by 2012?
October 21st, 2009 at 4:54 pm
@Austin actually where I live AT&T has served me quite well. Can’t really say the same for verizon
October 21st, 2009 at 4:56 pm
@Mitch
why would I bend over backwards to suck apples ****? Isn’t it easier to just get on my knees?
October 21st, 2009 at 5:00 pm
A couple of things..
Yeah, Verizon has had a bad track record on openness (or really, more like non-interference), and that has hurt them. They don’t offer any modern smart-phone/pocket computer yet.. they need this. I believe they are changing their stripes.
In fact, they kind of have to. While you can do anything in plain old Android, this is a “Google Experience” phone.. in fact, it’ll be the flagship. They are contractually not allowed to limit this phone in any way.
Real vs. Virtual keyboard.. ever noticed how much of your screen is eaten up by the virtual keyboard on the iPhone? Usually more than half. So, with a real (eg, as opposed to virtual) keyboard, you get the whole screen.. at least 5x as much visible pixels on-screen.. that’s way into non-trivial land.
As far as “it’s just a cellphone”… I guess you folks haven’t been paying attention. The “phone” feature is a tiny corner of this class of device… in fact, the iPhone is a pretty heinous cell phone.. drops calls all the time, compared to a normal AT&T cellphone.
No, these are pocket computers. They were tending that way anyway… this all got started adding cellular technology to PDAs, even as the PDA companies were failing (Palm) or going to sleep (Microsoft). According to the Apple hype, the iPhone does dozens of things other than “phone” out of the box, and another 80,000 via the apps store. I think this realization is what got Verizon to pull an about-face over control. In time, some people will be using this class of device as their main computing device… they won’t care so much about PCs. This is already happening in Japan.
October 21st, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Really? Dude an iPhone is just for show theyre not all that great and while Verizon does kill all it’s phones that doesn’t mean things can’t change. Moto Droid Ftw suck it iPhone lovers
October 21st, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Has anyone seen steve jobs preesentation on the iphone it’s on youtube he clearly states te reasons why there is no keyboard!!!!! iphone is about the whole package, iphone will never be dethrone because it has all the complimentary services right in your hand and itunes makes it the best phone ever iphone gives you a whole experience with itunes you basically can do anything you like and it will always be reliable iphone is not a phone, it’s a portal to everything there is in your computer iphone is (itunes, ipod, 85,000 apps and counting) all brouht up together toy make your life easier! thats a company with design thinking to make the whole experience unforgettable
October 21st, 2009 at 8:40 pm
@davehayne
Do you type so fast that you need that much screen space to see what your typing? Thats impressive. Anyway that “real keyboard” is like a wife….It just won’t get out of the way….The virtual keyboard is like a great girlfriend: shes only around when you want her to be….the rest of the time she just leaves you alone…..
October 21st, 2009 at 8:46 pm
I’m onboard with a Droid if it does half the stuff the iPhone does. I love the iPhone and would love to have one, but there is no way I am switching to AT&T period. Verizon’s network is way more reliable in all of the places that I travel than AT&T (I know because my AT&T blackberry that I carry for work gets terrible reception but my Verizon phone never has any problems). Don’t get me wrong, I really hate Verizon’s phone selection. I feel like they are living in 5 years ago, but the sad truth is if Apple didn’t ink that exclusivity deal with AT&T I would be the happy owner of an iPhone. For a lot of people what matters most is that the phone functions as a phone every time they need it to. Unfortunately AT&T only seems to deliver 80% of the time in my case, so I can’t switch over.
October 21st, 2009 at 8:50 pm
@iphones suck
Isnt there a mot droid site you can bless with your brilliant wit? If not please start one and leave the rest of us alone. you are stupid.
October 21st, 2009 at 10:16 pm
@ Rene
You continue to ask if Verizon is directing the ad towards geeks since most don’t even know it’s an ad directed towards the iphone. I agree! Most don’t know. Now let me just state for the record that I am a Verizon Wireless customer, but I’m far from being anyone’s fanboy and try to consistently look at everything with an objective view. While the ad is not the best in the world, it’s not the worst neither because you miss the main points entirely. Yes it’s directed towards iphone and most don’t know this, but those same people who don’t know aren’t trying to figure it out, but notice when you asked them if they knew it was towards iphone you had to ask them if they saw it first. Apparently they saw the ad so it caught their attention which is the first objective of an ad. I’m not in advertising and even I know that! After rattling on about what iphone doesn’t do while not knowing it’s directed towards iphone the ad leads to the second main objective when DROID DOES pops up on the screen. So now you’ve named what you are advertising which is what you are supposed to do in an ad. What’s genius is the fact that they don’t show you the droid at all creating curiousity, but they do leave a url link at the end of the ad which I bet you at least half of those same nongeeks have gone to already. Now that’s the real question you should be asking them. And if they did then that’s a successful ad for Verizon and they are already proving how well they succeeded. You are here right now just talking about it and even with the negative tone that talk adds to the buzz. The debate adds to the buzz and when you start dragging iphone into the debate by saying why the ad is inaccurate in some areas more so than others you have successfully added to the buzz and prove why the ad does succeed. Is it directed at the geeks? No, but I bet you wish you saw the counter on that website. Oh and you better believe Google had a hand in this ad as well. This is likely to be their flaship Android phone. They are also in competition with Apple and I’m sure they had 60% to do with the contents of this ad. All things that should be considered. Now having said that don’t try to pin me as a soon to be droid guy. I will go to the store and test in my hand for myself, but at the same time I’m going to be smart and wait to see what happens with the HTC HD2, Storm 2, Pre as well as the other soon to be Android phones released by Verizon before making any decisions. The network is the best hands down but the phones could be way better and in reality you just helped the best achieve their most important goal of the ad: DISCUSSION and there is lots of it going on all over the place. Between Monday and Today if you googled Droid Verizon you would have seen a major difference in the amount of content to appear online from people just talking in only a matter of three full days. Have a good one Rene!
October 22nd, 2009 at 4:26 am
ALL YOU LITTLE APPLE LOVERS ARE DUPED EVERY SEASON INTO BUYING THE “NEW” IPHONE! Cutting and pasting!!! Video!! Come on!! that has been available on smartphones for years!!! Apple adds a few little things to the existing iphone and all of a sudden you are all drooling over this “new” phone! For me this is truly a new phone! YOU ARE ALL SCARED OF ANDROID!!
October 22nd, 2009 at 9:44 am
Alex111683 and G Revolution.
Let’s agreed on one thing: It’s terrible comercial by Verizon…any time you start a commercial by saying something negative either about someone’s product or someone’s company it’s perceived as a bad commercial. In the end, it comes back to hunt you. Fox example when you use a negative redundancy like Verizon…”iDon’t”.”iDon’t”..”iDon’t..”iDon’t”..it’s a going to stick in the customer mind they will keep the workds..”iDon’t” and it translate to “I DO NOT WANT TO BUY THIS PRODUCT. This is a marketing philosophy that fails 99% of the time.
October 22nd, 2009 at 10:01 am
I have an Android phone. The MyTouch 3G. While it’s a nice product, Android really is half-baked. The email app is buggy, music player very simplistic and lacking in many features, and the camera is sloooow. (The 1.6 “Donut” update improved the camera app a little bit, but it’s still painfully slow) – There’s no logical desktop sync. It’s all supposed to be “in the cloud” – via Google. Does Verizon have a good relationship with Google? Or will it sync with Verizon services only? (That’s not very “open” if you ask me) After having my Android phone for over a month now, I wish that I had an iPhone. AT&T is the reason I don’t have one – if T-Mobile was an option, (without rooting/jailbreak – I want 3G, not EDGE!) then I’d have one.
Oh, and the typical response when something isn’t right with an Android phone? “Root your phone, install $someotherROM_mod.” Yeah, that’s really helpful. sigh
October 22nd, 2009 at 11:25 am
“Owning” the Android OS? Are you kidding me? You see, there is this new thing called “Open Source” where you can download the code and compile it yourself.
But, I bet that felt good to bash the Droid, and that’s all that really matters, right?
October 22nd, 2009 at 11:57 am
They (Verizon) forgot – no expendable memory, no universal charger. Thank god MSFT kicked AAPL in PC market otherwise we would not have seen open development on anything. AAPL are probably biggest protectionist.
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Unfortunately for Apple and Android the best “hardware” phones are Winmo.
HTC TP2 HTC HD2 Samsung Omnia 2 Toshiba TGO1
That’s just a few. Good thing for people who actually know how to utilize a smartphone is that WinMo is fully customizable and there’s thousands of free apps online.
Unlike Apple, Winmo users have no need for Itunes because WinMo phones can download any file type from any source. No need for conversions. Whether the file type is FLV,AVI,MPEG,DIXV,WMV it doesn’t matter WinMo plays them all.
I can also choose to run Touchflo,Android or the Iphone gui along with whatever comes standard on the phone.
Best part is I can provide hi-speed internet access for my laptop thru my Imagio or Omnia thru wi-fi tethering free of charge.
Another thing iPhoney can’t.
But for the people who choose the iPhone I have some good news for you.
No multitasking is out of the question and no the processor is still the same one Samsung provided for Apple that’s not even on par with the non-smartphone Jet(800mhz).
Here’s the good news: http://buffawhat.com/2967/rumor-verizon-gets-the-iphone-february-2010/
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:37 pm
According to all of you they should just stop making cell phones all together! Do all of you really suck the iphone sack this bad? If I believed half the people on this blog iphone is it nothing else will ever compare! Face it no matter how good the iphone is something better eventually has to be made, if not that would just be sad! Maybe its the Droid maybe not but you cant actually believe that the iphone is it, something better has to come some day. I know most of you will cry and some of you will move out of the coutry but it has to happen some day.
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:49 pm
There’s a map for that…BTW still using my G1 and love it!
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:40 pm
@me
some of us will simply use it
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:52 pm
@Nate
so no one knows how to use a smartphone unless they know how to customize it? That’s like saying you can’t drive a car unless you know how to properly install a nitroous kit. Most people never even open the hood except to maybe check the oil. People want something that they can purchase and use. That’s what the majority of consumers care about. Can you picture the average person coming into best buy to get an iPhone and trying to convince them how much better winmo is because “Best part is I can provide hi-speed internet access for my laptop thru my Imagio or Omnia thru wi-fi tethering free of charge.”? They’re going to look at you like your forehead sprouted a **** and proceed home with their iPhone.
October 22nd, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Wow are you guys kidding me? I am an iphone user as well and I can highlight major things wrong with the iphone. First of all you cannot run 3rd party apps simultaneously on the iphone. Email, messaging, music absolutely does not count, they are all apple in built software. Everytime you hit the home button, the running app exits and you have to restart the app again, which is absolutely dumb. They should have made a provision to run at least 2-3 apps in the background on top of email, msg and music. Camera and Video are easily some of the biggest usage of phones these days, and though the 3GS has the video, without a flash this 2.0 camera is the worst camera ever on a phone in the last 3-4 years. My previous Samsung blackjack with its limited capabilities had an awesome camera, video and this was 2 years ago.We are giving way too much credit to Apple, when it is absolutely not required. Every iphone (atnt is to be blamed) user goes through many dropped calls. We are end users and consumers, we should welcome all these new features on new phones, so Apple stops its bs and gives us a better iphone than what they have given. They led the industry in touch screen and apps obviously have made them immensely popular, however the phone needs every competition it can get from all other makers, so in the end we as consumers benefit. I am amazed at how users like you (some not all) fools are claiming a company. The company in fact thrives on fools like you who become “fans” of a product and company, not realizing that an industry needs competition for innovation, best product for the consumer and economical pricing etc. Wake up and stop showing your allegiance towards corporations. Demand more for your buck that is how the product and the society becomes better and we all benefit. There are as many users on Verizon as Atnt and they clearly want better phones as well. We are infact all losers with Atnt and Apple. iphone was a huge bust in Asia, because users in Asia absolutely rejected the camera/video features (non features) on the iphone. On top of that, they do not use as much apps as we do in U.S. Even though almost all of us have a computer right in front of us most of the time. iphone led the way, yes, but just like Microsoft that did not care about internet explorer for years due to lack of competition, and became stagnant, until Mozilla came with a bang, just like gmail revolutionized email and storage, we need competition for the iphone, so consumers dont get attracted towards glitter rather substance which packs a lot more for its price. Every competition is good, i wish this new droid platform and the phone great success, so we as iphone users get a lot more in the next software update for free.
October 22nd, 2009 at 11:00 pm
and btway anyone who thinks this was not a great commercial or marketing move, completely missed the bus. When i saw the commercial, i as an iphone user, immediately recognized all these iphone shortcomings that almost every iphone user complains about, but many are just too foolishly proud to admit that the phone sucks on many different level or as if they are better off than people who either cannot afford or dont really care enough to make the transition and increase their phone bills, distract themselves while driving and buy useless apps. The net is “buzzing” about that commercial. Everyone wants to know what is going on and that is how you scout the market before the launch. Smart media companies have learned how to attract attention and create a buzz, like viral videos by Gatorade did earlier this year. I thought the commercial was smart and mysterious enough to generate enough interest in a casual observer or a non iphone user. Once again, Verizon has as many users as Atnt does, so to claim that some how we as iphone users are “smarter” or get better service from Atnt or get a better product for the “subsidized” price ($99 for old and 199 for new)for the $100+ we are shelling out for our monthly bills phones and data plan is plain stupid. The phone is what you make of it. There is no limit to what kinda ridiculous app you can buy or d/l for free for the iphone or any other phone. I have not paid for a single app on the iphone and i have about 70 apps all “useful” from my perspective (WSJ, Time, Traffic, AP, hotels.com, Wikipanion, Wells fargo, fandango, bloomberg, directv, pandora, cisco webex, webmd, aroundme, skype, sportscenter, mlbAtbat, apod, flightStats, Associated Press, Reuters etc etc and some other productivity softwares) all FOR FREE. It does not mean that i am smart or cheap, but rather my preferences and how i and what i want to use the phone for. Lets not be naive and dismiss other products, carriers, phones and services. Like some of you have said, every competition is in most cases great for the end consumer.
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:30 am
All of you do realize that the iDosen’t ad campaign is not the work of Verizon…right? Those are motorola commercials…
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:58 pm
What they should have included in the ad is “IDon’t run Flash” this is a big step above the Iphony.
October 25th, 2009 at 5:09 am
You all are arguing that the commercial lied, it didn’t. I own a G1, and I can say that I love this phone a lot more than my ipos. The android phones do a lot more than the iphone’s do. Period. If you don’t think so, your more of a fanboy than anything. I can’t say the G1 is the best phone, because I don’t think it is, but I can say its better than any iPhone I’ve played with. The android OS is open source, so there is always going to be more customization to the phone than others. I have rooted my phone, and installed the hero rom, the pulse rom, the ion rom, the sense rom, and the blur rom. That’s 5 totally different OS’ for those of you that don’t know that. Oh I can also install a FULL linux distro os with GUI on my phone. How about you?
October 26th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
The ads are being run by Motorola, not Verizon. This has been reported nearly everywhere by now. The ad is designed to pull on-the-fence iphone users to Motorola (and Verizon by proxy). To claim the iphone has a real keyboard because it exists is absurd and is honestly more desperate a defense than anything in the commercial to begin with.
October 27th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
New Microsoft Ad for Windows 7 should follow the Motorola iDont campaigne:
“iDont randomly delete user accounts and data files.”
Has Apple done anything yet to resolve this HUGE bug in Snow Leopard that deletes user accounts and any files associated with that account? Apple is so quick to throw mud perhaps someone should fling that back at them. Perhaps they should spend more money on quality assurance and testing instead of advertising. Seriously, they nickle and dime their fan-base to death through paying for what should be free service-packs disguised as “new” operating systems (10.3, 10.4, 10.5, 10.6…. all version 10 of OS).
October 29th, 2009 at 1:04 am
Let’s be realistic here folks. First of all, who’s going to read 200+ posts? I didn’t – I scrolled. Second, if you’re just a kid that doesn’t actually need a reliable network and would rather have the newest coolest toy around, there are plenty of options for just that purpose, and the Droid doesn’t aim to be one.
Apple did a superb job on the OS and case-design for the iPhone. The device is simple for anyone to use, and is attractive in almost any circle. However, and as previously posted several times, it’s not perfect. It amazes me that an Operating System vendor that focuses on media completely missed the mark with their flagship mobile device. As elegant as the iPhone is, why on EARTH can it not do MMS? To me, that’s just ridiculous. I’m a business-user, so it’s not as though I’m missing that feature, but c’mon – that should have been a no-brainer from the start.
As stated, I’m a business user, so for me the most important feature is by far the network. I’ve used all the major carriers, and NOBODY – bar none – has better service than Verizon. As much as I hate to go with a company that locks things down so tight, I will not go with any other carrier simply because I’ve yet to drop a call on the Verizon network with one single exception when I was in rural Texas, down in a valley. 5 seconds later, I had coverage again. My job requires that I’m in constant contact, and Verizon delivers consistently.
I’m really looking forward to the Droid. It’s (supposedly) 100% customisable given that it’s open-source, and the device appears to be elegant enough for the board-room.
And at a $200 price-point, it’ll be interesting to see if Apple continues to carry the less-than-stellar AT&T, or jumps ship to what 89 million people have come to know as the superior network. Game on Apple, it’s time to get your feet off the desk and make the iPhone a Droid-killer!
November 2nd, 2009 at 5:15 am
yeah, well I have been an iphone user since 2007. I have had the first one, the 3g and now the 3gs. But, I am tired of this phone. Starting November 6th I am going to get a call from Best Buy to come setup my new Droid and Verizon account. Goodbye ATT – Goodbye Apple. I have been waiting on Google to improve Android and for a manufacturer to create decent hardware. Well despite it’s shortcomings they did it!
Not only that I echo the poster above Alex111683. YOU ARE ALL SCARED OF ANDROID!! And you know why? Because like Ants… Android will mass on many devices unlike the iPhone!! Not only that the Android Army will slowly like it is now take over this market. Have you seen the predictions already for 2010? So this is beyond DROID. DROID is the first Impressive Android phone ahh, the leader so to speak. There will be more! and More! and more!
There will not be any 1 iPhone killer. But Android in numbers. In many devices. Everywhere. Apple cannot stop this. Get over the iphone. its ok and getting old. the droid is impressive. Android is beautiful.