Commentary
Verizon Wireless Pulling Out The Stops For 'Droid'
If Verizon Wireless' current "Droid Does" ad campaign isn't enough to convince you that the company is excited about its first Android handset, here's a few more clues: It mailed R2D2 "droids" to the media, and has set October 28th for a big Droid event.If Verizon Wireless' current "Droid Does" ad campaign isn't enough to convince you that the company is excited about its first Android handset, here's a few more clues: It mailed R2D2 "droids" to the media, and has set October 28th for a big Droid event.Two days ago, the UPS truck stopped in front of my house. Verizon Wireless' media relations agency is the only one I work with that uses UPS regularly, so I guessed the package was from Verizon Wireless. I brought it to my office, and noticed that the box had the same Droid symbol that has appeared in Verizon's TV ads and on its Web site. I tore into it feverishly, hoping that there might just be a phone in there. There wasn't, but there was a "droid".
Verizon Wireless had sent me a remote controlled R2D2 toy, the famous droid from the Star Wars films. Packaged with the R2D2 toy was a small card that read "Droid Does - 11.09". Message received: Verizon's Droid, whatever it is, will arrive in November.
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A few other things have happened since. On the Web site that Verizon published containing some bits and pieces of information about Droid, the countdown clock on the page has been fast forwarded by a couple of days. Originally, it was set to October 30. Now, it is set to October 28.
Yesterday, I received an invitation to meet with Verizon Wireless on October 28 in New York City. The invitation says "Verizon Wireless Unleashes the Must-Have Device of the Year" and "we will unveil the most desirable phone of 2009."
Them's fightin' words, for sure. I bet Apple would point out -- based on the massive 7.4 million iPhones it sold last quarter -- that it has the "most desirable" phone of 2009. Of course, Verizon can argue that 2009 isn't over yet...
What's really interesting is that Verizon is getting behind the Droid (a Motorola Android device, by the way), and has yet to even acknowledge the Storm2, which by all accounts is going to be available for sale at about the same time as the Droid. I wonder how RIM feels about that.
Anyway, get ready to get yer Droid on next week!
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