Verizon Shows Off New Droid
Oct. 29, 2009
Rick Stouffer, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
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Verizon Wireless, Motorola and Google on Wednesday introduced their first smartphone collaboration, the device the trio hopes will dull the luster of Apple's iPhone.
Droid with Google by Motorola is the first smartphone to use Google's Android 2.0 operating system. Fans say the technology makes the device fast and easy to use. There's also a camera application with an automatic focus and a built-in flash that uses two light-emitting diodes.
Guests at a kickoff event yesterday at PNC Park on the North Shore got to try out the phone. Similar events took place in Chicago and New York City.
"Verizon Wireless has put a tremendous amount of energy and money into the Droid," said Avi Greengart, research director for mobile devices at Current Analysis in Washington. "It's their halo product in time for the holidays.
"It's not an iPhone killer, but it will help Verizon Wireless stem defections from its network."
Droid will be available beginning Nov. 6 at Verizon Wireless stores and online for $199 with a new two-year customer agreement. There's a $100 mail-in rebate, and the Droid requires a monthly phone and data plan. Voice package prices vary, but an unlimited data plan runs $29.99 a month.
"Droid features both a virtual and a slider keyboard, a screen with twice the resolution of the next smartphone and 16 gigabytes of memory that is removable," Robb Moretti, Verizon's data sales director for the Pennsylvania-Ohio-West Virginia Region, said yesterday at the PNC Park event.
Verizon has been running TV ads critical of the iPhone, which runs on the rival AT&T network. "This is the biggest threat that Apple has seen," said Clinton Stark, co-founder of the San Francisco Bay Area-based lifestyle Web site StarkSilverCreek.com. "This is a very big step forward for Google."
The Droid also offers built-in Google navigation software, along with support for e-mail systems. "The Google turn-by-turn directions application really is a big advantage," Stark said. "You now have in a handheld device a camera, a social networking device and a GPS."
Verizon Wireless sales for the third quarter totaled nearly $16 billion, and smartphones account for 30 to 40 percent of that, Moretti said. Shares of Verizon Communications Inc., parent of the software company, closed yesterday at $29.95, up 75 cents. Motorola's shares closed at $7.96, up 6 cents, and Google's ended the day at $540.30, off $7.99.
Source: Copyright (c) 2009, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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