Verizon Wireless/Newscom
On Friday, Verizon Wireless will release the Motorola Droid, a phone that Verizon says will go toe to toe with the Apple iPhone.
New ad bills Verizon Droid as ’stealth’ tech
Days ahead of the official release of the Motorola Droid, Verizon has rolled out a slick new TV advertisement touting the Droid's next-generation capabilities.
By Matthew Shaer | 11.05.09
Update: Verizon Droid Eris undercuts Motorola Droid on price
Friday is the official release date of the Droid, a smartphone manufactured by Motorola and powered by Verizon Wireless. And Verizon isn’t missing any chances to bombard potential consumers with news of the Droid. Beginning earlier this week, Verizon aired an advertisement billing the Android-equipped Droid as next-generation ’stealth’ technology – a device worthy of the weeks of hype.
At the start of the new television advertisement, which was shown repeatedly during Game Six of the World Series, a squadron of stealth bombers scream through a cloudy sky. Each of the planes drops a small black package toward the farmland below. The camera then follows people cautiously approaching the craters left by the bombers. In the final frames, one of the black packages opens to reveal a blinking Droid phone. (See video below.)
So how do the Droid ads stack up? Pretty well. The production value of the ad is high, and the mysterious atmosphere is in line with the entire Droid campaign. As we’ve noted, Verizon has relied on a whip-’em-into-a-frenzy viral marketing approach, waiting for the very last minute to actually reveal photos of the Droid. (If you were wondering, that’s the Droid in the photo at right.)
In October, Verizon released the “iDroid” spots, which played down the capabilities of the Apple iPhone. “iDon’t have a real keyboard. iDon’t run simultaneous apps. iDon’t take night shots. iDon’t allow open development,” reads anti-Apple copy posted on the Droid website. “iDon’t customize. iDon’t run widgets. iDon’t have interchangeable batteries. Everything iDon’t, Droid does.”
On Friday, Verizon will unveil the ultimate marketing gimmick – a promotion allowing New Yorkers to control two of Times Square’s largest digital billboards using only voice commands. According to Verizon, the billboards will ask passersby to call a toll-free number to search for something in the Times Square area. The results will then be displayed on the digital billboards using Google Maps.
Early tests of the Droid have been largely positive, with reviewers praising the Droid’s navigation capabilities, its full QWERTY keyboard, and its lush screen display, which bests the iPhone in terms of resolution. At CNET, Kent German and Bonnie Cha called the Droid “a real competitor to Apple’s device.”
Update: Verizon Droid Eris undercuts Motorola Droid on price
Are you sold? Or will you be standing by your iPhone? Drop us a line here, or on Twitter, @CSMHorizonsBlog.
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2. bugger | 11.05.09
tasteless ad,
first bombing,
then invoking “War of the Worlds”
I expected a heat ray to come out.
3. Dina Haansley | 11.06.09
The droid has been getting so much publicity, it looks like a movie when it’s not iphone bashing. It actually reminds me of a horror movie the preview for it like the movie 28 Days Later, seriously, go to Verizon’s site and look at it.
4. Sara | 11.06.09
I actually just bought the droid and I love it. The main differences I find to put it ahead of the iPhone is the ability to do everything at the same time, and the slide out qwerty keyboard. I’ve never been able to do well with a virtual keyboard, and I’ve been using my iTouch for internet access for a long time. The one bad thing is the serious lack of apps when compared to those available for the iPhone, but seeing as it’s the first day this phone has been out, there will probably be significantly more soon.
5. James | 11.07.09
The Driod also has great resolution. I’m sick of the primative 480×320 res on the Iphone, other phones have 480×800 resolution now, that’s decent enough to access your home computer desktop and use some applications.
I’m sure there are going to be tons of apps on these Android phones, because they don’t have to be approved by Apple. Criticize Winmo phones but anyone can put up an app, I can play online poker with real money on Winmo phones(cake poker), but you’d never get an app like that approved for Apple.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
1. Twitter Trackbacks for New ad bills Verizon Droid as ’stealth’ tech | csmonitor.com [csmonitor.com] on Topsy.com | 11.05.09
3. New ad bills Verizon Droid as ’stealth’ tech (The Christian Science Monitor) at Twitter Blog | 11.05.09
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1. TheCastro | 11.05.09
Well since the droid won’t be on AT&T I’ll stick with my iPhone. Over 100,000 apps and constantly improving. I’ve had two 3g iPhones and the 3gs. Heck I’m typing this on my iPhone now. If apple and verizon were serious about the iPhone going to verizon next year they’d be hinting at that instead. I’m sure the Droid will be fun to use. But I’m sure it’ll still lack in touch responsiveness compared to the iPhone. That’s the thing all the other touch phones fail in. Knowing what I meant to click. The iPhone does that.