By Relmor Demitrius -
By now product reviews, projected sales information based in some reality, and media input aplenty is out on Motorola Inc.’s new smart phone (NYSE:MOT), the Droid. The Droid was the first smart phone to utilize Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) new Android 2.0 operating system, introduced as a direct competitor to the Blackberry and Iphone operating systems, as well as the Palm, which is reportedly not doing well. With any technology that has fans that are loyal to other products, getting a real feel for consumer sentiment on any new technology is risky at first, and best left instead to time. Enough time has now passed for a good feel on this phone to be achieved. Sales numbers appear to be decent to good. The reviews on the phone itself are mixed, but mostly positive. It has been as boldly called the Iphone Killer (which is ridiculous) to a washed up attempt to catch up in the smart phone space that is going to fail miserably(even more ridiculous). What is that old saying? Somewhere in the middle lies the truth? I think that is exactly the case here.
I don’t think the phone will be a failure, but the Droid has much competition, even within the same Android 2.0 market it uses to run its phone. Since HTC offers the same operating system (OS) at the same dealers as does the Droid, there is competition even amongst the OS users themselves. Imagine two very similar phones called the Blackberry and the Redberry, each phone basically the same. Of course it would affect sales of the Blackberry. Not only does Motorola have to compete with other smart phones, it has to compete with other smart phones running the same OS as they are. Was Motorola blindsided when Google released and marketed heavily its version, the Nexus One? Maybe, maybe not. Would Motorola had done anything differently anyway? Probably not. Regardless, they did the right thing partnering with Google.
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