At least three promotions have preceded Droid X sales. For one, Verizon Wireless and Motorola have launched an edgy TV ad for the $200 Android device showing a close-up of a human eye that turns robotic, with a metallic lens that twists open to reveal a red pupil.
The 4.3-inch touchscreen Droid X will ship with the Android 2.1 operating system, with an update to 2.2 (known as Froyo) and Flash 10.1 later this year. It will also have features that Verizon has promoted as important to a security-conscious enterprise crowd who also want the functions of other hot-selling smartphones.
Early reviews have of the device have been positive, with some citing the appeal of the phone’s 720p video output.
In a second unusual promotion, the TV ads came after a June 30 ad appearing in the New York Times drawing attention to antenna problems with the iPhone 4.
Third, Verizon last week accidentally released 170 Droid X devices to online purchasers, saying at first they could not be completely activated until July 15, and then later allowing activation, according to several Web sites and Verizon. Some Web sites have published photos of a Verizon memo that indicates the way the 170 phones could be activated before the launch.
A Verizon spokeswoman said via e-mail that “some” phones were released under a 21-city promotion last week. A “system error,” since corrected, also allowed “some customers” to receive Droid X devices early, but she gave no other details.
Zeus Kerravala, an analyst at Yankee Group, said the early release of some Droid X phones, the Times ad and the Droid X television ads are all signs of the competitive atmosphere that Verizon, especially, faces against the iPhone 4, which is sold exclusively by AT&T, as well as the general hubbub over trendy new smartphones.
With the iPhone 4 selling 1.7 million devices in the first three days it was available, it is clearly the device that competitors will focus on, various analysts said.
The release of 170 Droid X phones clearly wasn’t an accident, Kerravala said, arguing that the loss of an iPhone 4 prototype in a bar probably wasn’t either. “Eh, things like that aren’t accidents,” he said.
Kerravala said he likes the Droid X TV ads, noting that Android and Google , behind Verizon and Motorola, “are trying to hit a younger audience, a bit edgier, even a bit rebellious…clearly not the BlackBerry crowd.”
Kerravala said Droid X is essentially focused on consumers, although it will enter the enterprise through savvy users, not those in IT.
The Froyo upgrade and the expanded storage and battery life in Droid X will “appease the enterprise IT guy,” Kerravala added. “Droid X has all the bells and whistles of the iPhone, but they have the enterprise security features, too,” he said. “So if you are on the fence between Apple iPhone and Droid, IT support could tip the scales.”
Verizon sees the Droid as its answer to the iPhone and the company needs to make it a success for two reasons, said independent analyst Jack Gold. “One is to have a winner that can compete with iPhone for customers, including bringing over some very dissatisfied iPhone users. Second, is to put pressure on Apple to hurry up and get (Verizon its) own iPhone to sell, by showing Apple how many competing devices they can ship.”
Gold viewed shipping a few Droid X devices early as “seeding the market…. “If you have the devices, why not get them into the hands of users who can then get some ‘buzz’ going. Verizon will never achieve the status of an iPhone launch with thousands of people waiting in lines overnight, but anything they can do to generate buzz is a good thing.”
