iPhone-Like Droid X Sells Out Online and at Verizon Stores
Adam Dickter, Mobile Tech Today, 7/19/2010
Despite Verizon Wireless promises of ample supplies, Motorola’s Droid X sold out online and in some areas of the country. The Droid X has been compared to Apple’s troubled iPhone and some buyers may prefer Verizon’s network over AT&T. Motorola’s Droid X also supports Adobe Flash, which Apple has banned from its mobile devices.
Motorola’s Droid X flew off the shelves at Verizon Wireless stores and online on its launch day Thursday, filling a growing demand for high-speed touchscreen smartphones that has been gold for manufacturers and the nation’s top carriers. Despite assurances that the new device would be in ample supply after a predecessor, HTC’s Droid Incredible, ran short at launch in April, Verizon’s web site told shoppers Friday that July 23 is the earliest their orders will ship. Shortages were also reported at Best Buy stores.
Anticipating Demand
Verizon spokesperson Brenda Rainey told us Friday that the shortage affected only some areas of the country and Verizon has regularly scheduled inventory deliveries to ensure there will be adequate supplies.
Asked if the company underestimated demand, Rainey said “this is a retail business, and like most retail businesses we do our best to predict and estimate demand and order appropriately. But there is always an unknown factor that equates to popularity, and in this case the [Droid X] is extremely popular.”
She declined to speculate on whether competitor Apple’s highly publicized troubles with its iPhone 4, which has signal problems tied to its unusual antenna design, may have helped the Droid X, whose design and features are similar.
“People make decisions about what phone they want for all kinds of reasons,” she said. “When people walk in the door at Verizon, they’ve chosen a network. I can’t comment on how things like that influence their decisions. You have to ask the customers.”
The Droid X features one of the largest touchscreens available, 4.3 inches, and, unlike the iPhone, supports Adobe Flash-based graphics. While it doesn’t have a slide-out keyboard like the original Droid, it does have more physical buttons than the iPhone. It also has HDMI output and an eight-megapixel camera, compared to iPhone’s five.
The Droid X went on sale one day before Apple’s press conference to address the antenna issue, and after weeks of bad publicity about the iPhone 4, including a David Letterman Top 10 List of signs you have a bad iPhone.
But wireless analyst Gerry Purdy of MobilTrax said the success of the Droid X is likely not significantly tied to Apple’s grief.
Similar User Experience
“They’ve done a lot of advertising and pre-publicity,” Purdy said of Verizon. “[The iPhone debacle] may have a small effect, nothing substantial. We’ll see after the [Apple] announcement.”
Purdy said the Droid X appeals to people who want to stick with Verizon because of its quality service but want something similar to the iPhone.
The Droid X “is a classy product that supports Flash and does give the Verizon customer an experience close to the iPhone experience: An app store, an open platform … It’s a cool product that has lots of social-networking capabilities built in.”
Apple also ran into supply problems with the iPhone 4, selling close to two million in the first weeks, as did Sprint Nextel when it launched the the HTC EVO 4G, which became the fastest-selling phone in the carrier’s history.
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In: Android, iPhone, Mobile Technology · Tagged with: 4G, AT&T, Flash, HTC, Motorola, Verizon
on July 19, 2010 at 9:35 pm
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