Until the past month, when someone uttered the word “Droid,” the only thing to pop in your mind would be something straight out of Star Wars. That was until Motorola started building hype around it’s self-proclaimed “iPhone Killer,” the Droid. Seeing how I’m easily attracted to shiny objects, I’ve been carefully following this launch which takes place tomorrow and am fascinated by the marketing and business components of it.
WHAT HAS MOTOROLA DONE RIGHT?
How can you differentiate yourself in a market where there’s a clear category leader? You look at what that they’re not doing and you do it. You do it well. The makers of the Droid looked at the key things the iPhone does not have: a 5 megapixel camera, multitasking, free GPS turn by turn directions. The key here is the Droid has to be able to also do most of what the iPhone does do and do it pretty darn well themselves.
The fact that Droid is with Verizon also is a blessing for Motorola. With so many iPhone users disgruntled about AT&T’s shotty 3G service, as well as their questionable customer service (which can certainly leave a bad taste in a customer’s mouth). It will be very interesting to see if many iPhone customers will terminate their contracts with AT&T to switch over to Verizon for their “network.”
Then, you have the commercials. These ads didn’t reveal much about the device itself initially, which I think had two opposite effects on some people. For some, since it didn’t reveal much, but still attacked the iPhone, they interpreted it as a pretty empty claim of being the next big thing in the tech world. For others, though, the tactic worked and it built a tremendous amount of anticipation, so much that when the device was finally demoed, every tech site had at least 2 or3 articles on it. This sort of hype is what is at least giving the Droid the illusion of being something HUGE. Whether or not it will capitalize on this hype, well…
WHERE DOES MOTOROLA GO NOW?
You better believe there will eventually be a Droid 2, and that may ultimately be the deciding factor of if the Droid will be an “it” phone. If, at that point, people still view it as the iPhone’s toughest competition, I’d say Motorola would have to consider the device a success. But how does it get to that point?
Early reports point out that Droid’s browser speed is a good bit slower than that of it’s Apple enemy, which could be a very frustrating problem for web surfing intensive users.
What Google needs to do is continue to build out it’s Android 2.0 platform. The glaring issue here is that it has a mere 10,000 or so apps, one tenth of Apple’s recently announced 100,000 apps (great timing for this announcement, huh?) Since much of the iPhone’s success has been courtesy of the functionality it’s apps have added, Google needs to gain the backing of these developers to build out it’s app marketplace. I’m no expert here, but the biggest thing is probably making it as easy as possible for content to be created and submitted and approved, as well as making them as easy to download and maintain as Apple has.
iPHONE USERS? DON’T WORRY, BE HAPPY
So, what does this mean for those of you who proudly strut around wielding your iPhone? It means you should be pretty dang psyched! This is Apple’s first real competition, which means they’re going to have to bring their A+ game from here on out. You better believe that the next iPhone will have a better camera. You can also put your money on multitasking being allowed eventually. And the best part is, Apple is going to have to pull some tricks out of its own basket to stay two steps ahead, which I doubt they’ll have any problem doing.
So what about you, are you going to buy a Droid? Are you going to stay loyal to the iPhone? Does Droid have any shot at taking away a significant portion of Apple’s market share?
{ 18 comments }
Really interesting post- I had no knowledge of the Motorola Droid (but maybe they aren't marketing it/releasing it in the UK yet?) I JUST bought a Iphone a few weeks ago so I will not be getting “droided”, but I do hope that this pushes Apple to bring its A+ game!
Congrats on the recent purchase! I'm stuck in a Verizon contract right now, so I'm still iPhone-less, but I may be one of the biggest fans of the product who doesn't actually own it. Have you had any gripes thus far with it? Anything Apple could fix to stay ahead of Droid and other competitors?
That's fascinating that it hasn't even been a whisper in the UK, I guess since it's Verizon they're really only building the hype in the US right now. It'll be interesting to see if it is successful, whether or not Motorola will take it to other countries. I'm excited to be able to get some more insights in the future from someone living “across the pond” to see how the UK differs from the US. Thanks for commenting, Sheema!
Thanks! I absolutely LOVE my Iphone- I wonder how I managed without it! There's such a wide array of free applications that are cool/helpful, and I'm amazed by the augmented reality applications. I agree with you that Apple needs to improve its camera and maybe add a zoom function (I currently have downloaded a free application that allows me to zoom).
Maybe I'm just not in the know, but I haven't heard anything about it in the UK. I recommend checking out @WhatleyDude & @vikkichowney's blog The Really Mobile Project http://thereallymobileproject.com/ that would have better insights/information. I'm certain it will come over here once its a hit with Verizon- the Iphone took a few months to come over here as well. Thanks, I look forward to reading more of your posts!
Jackie,
Nice article. I wholeheartedly agree that the Droid is targeted at Verizon Wireless customers who haven't made the switch to the iPhone purely because they didn't want to (or couldn't) break their contracts and change to AT&T. I know several Verizon people who have contracts expiring soon who are waiting to see if the Droid is going to scratch their itch for a cool smart phone.
Where I think the Droid might run into problems is when Apple's contract with AT&T expires. You are right in that Google needs to develop the platform quickly to gain adoption before this happens. I don't think making sales because you can help people avoid switching costs is a great marketing strategy long-term.
As far as the apps go, that's not a huge deal to me. More apps will come if the phone sells. The people who would buy this phone are the late tech adopters anyway, so the apps issue probably isn't as big a deal as you might think.
Thanks for the interesting discussion!
Wishlist: iphone with physical keyboard or droid GSM with 1700Mhz 3g support, so I can use either of them on T-mobile. AT&T (service/support/network reliability) is keeping me from getting an iPhone. Verizon (non-GSM) from getting a Droid (and the keyboard could be a little better, like htc's touch pro2). Of course: I would also take a Touch Pro2 running Android … competition is good!
I totally agree that when the exclusivity of the iPhone ends, Droid could quickly become irrelevant if they haven't found success by that point. A few weeks ago in an interview, Verizon's CEO, when asked about the iPhone, even said something along the lines of “The ball is in Apple's court now,” indicating that Verizon definitely wants the iPhone, which shows that they aren't buying the notion that the Droid will “take over” the smart phone market any time soon (definitely can't blame them, there).
Either way, I've always been fascinated by tech products, so I'm pretty interested to see how the whole situation plays out! Thanks for stopping by and commenting, again!
You got it, my friend, with the competition taken up a notch, your wishlist very well may come true somewhere down the road! Thanks for commenting!
Just wanted to add something else that Monica tweeted out. This article points out how even though Apple's app store is huge, a very large percentage of these apps go unused. http://www.pcworld.com/article/181448/apples_ap...
You got it, my friend, with the competition taken up a notch, your wishlist very well may come true somewhere down the road! Thanks for commenting!
Just wanted to add something else that Monica tweeted out. This article points out how even though Apple's app store is huge, a very large percentage of these apps go unused. http://www.pcworld.com/article/181448/apples_ap...
Really interesting post- I had no knowledge of the Motorola Droid (but maybe they aren't marketing it/releasing it in the UK yet?) I JUST bought a Iphone a few weeks ago so I will not be getting “droided”, but I do hope that this pushes Apple to bring its A+ game!
Congrats on the recent purchase! I'm stuck in a Verizon contract right now, so I'm still iPhone-less, but I may be one of the biggest fans of the product who doesn't actually own it. Have you had any gripes thus far with it? Anything Apple could fix to stay ahead of Droid and other competitors?
That's fascinating that it hasn't even been a whisper in the UK, I guess since it's Verizon they're really only building the hype in the US right now. It'll be interesting to see if it is successful, whether or not Motorola will take it to other countries. I'm excited to be able to get some more insights in the future from someone living “across the pond” to see how the UK differs from the US. Thanks for commenting, Sheema!
Thanks! I absolutely LOVE my Iphone- I wonder how I managed without it! There's such a wide array of free applications that are cool/helpful, and I'm amazed by the augmented reality applications. I agree with you that Apple needs to improve its camera and maybe add a zoom function (I currently have downloaded a free application that allows me to zoom).
Maybe I'm just not in the know, but I haven't heard anything about it in the UK. I recommend checking out @WhatleyDude & @vikkichowney's blog The Really Mobile Project http://thereallymobileproject.com/ that would have better insights/information. I'm certain it will come over here once its a hit with Verizon- the Iphone took a few months to come over here as well. Thanks, I look forward to reading more of your posts!
Jackie,
Nice article. I wholeheartedly agree that the Droid is targeted at Verizon Wireless customers who haven't made the switch to the iPhone purely because they didn't want to (or couldn't) break their contracts and change to AT&T. I know several Verizon people who have contracts expiring soon who are waiting to see if the Droid is going to scratch their itch for a cool smart phone.
Where I think the Droid might run into problems is when Apple's contract with AT&T expires. You are right in that Google needs to develop the platform quickly to gain adoption before this happens. I don't think making sales because you can help people avoid switching costs is a great marketing strategy long-term.
As far as the apps go, that's not a huge deal to me. More apps will come if the phone sells. The people who would buy this phone are the late tech adopters anyway, so the apps issue probably isn't as big a deal as you might think.
Thanks for the interesting discussion!
Wishlist: iphone with physical keyboard or droid GSM with 1700Mhz 3g support, so I can use either of them on T-mobile. AT&T (service/support/network reliability) is keeping me from getting an iPhone. Verizon (non-GSM) from getting a Droid (and the keyboard could be a little better, like htc's touch pro2). Of course: I would also take a Touch Pro2 running Android … competition is good!
I totally agree that when the exclusivity of the iPhone ends, Droid could quickly become irrelevant if they haven't found success by that point. A few weeks ago in an interview, Verizon's CEO, when asked about the iPhone, even said something along the lines of “The ball is in Apple's court now,” indicating that Verizon definitely wants the iPhone, which shows that they aren't buying the notion that the Droid will “take over” the smart phone market any time soon (definitely can't blame them, there).
Either way, I've always been fascinated by tech products, so I'm pretty interested to see how the whole situation plays out! Thanks for stopping by and commenting, again!
You got it, my friend, with the competition taken up a notch, your wishlist very well may come true somewhere down the road! Thanks for commenting!
Just wanted to add something else that Monica tweeted out. This article points out how even though Apple's app store is huge, a very large percentage of these apps go unused. http://www.pcworld.com/article/181448/apples_ap...
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