The iPhone's dominance in the trendy smart phone category is finally going to be challenged by Verizon. The Verizon Droid, slated to come out this November, claims to be everything iPhone is not. Their clever :30 spot which came out this week lists every common qualm people have had with the iPhone and does so by cleverly spoofing every Apple ad you've ever seen, with black-on-white text and an indie sountrack. After listing all the things iPhone doesn't so ("iDon't..."), it cuts to some wild sci-fi scene with the words "Droid Does"
If Droid does do all these things, it should challenge Apple rather quickly. Despite the iPhone's dominance in the market, this ad has pinned down every reason people would have to switch, or to not choose iPhone in the first place if they're shopping for their first smart phone. A lot of them aren't really a big deal ("iDon't take pictures in the dark; iDon't run simultaneous apps"), but the biggies are things like "iDon't have a real keyboard," "iDon't allow open development," and of course, the lack of "The Network," Verizon's primary leg up on the competition.
A visit to the official website, DroidDoes, offers little information except that seen in the ads: all the things Droid does, most of which iPhone does not. You can sign up to receive email updates, and there is a strange countdown in some alien language that Christopher Daggett at TechCrunch has apparently decoded to mean a countdown to October 30 at 1:00:00 AM.
Verizon Droid by Motorola (photos courtesy Boy Genius Report)
You have to think that Verizon is finally getting it right, going for the jugular in their war with AT&T. It all boils down to a pretty simple message, "Our network is better than yours, and our stuff is as cool as yours, nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah." By all accounts, the next large battle will commence with the next shot heard round the world, sometime around October 30.
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ReplyDeleteNo doubt Apple advertising is the gold standard. Ask any ad major in this school and they'll drop to their knees at the opportunity to polish Steve Jobs' knob.
ReplyDeleteVerizon could be touting it's partnership with Google on this project, one of only a handful of companies that can go toe-to-toe in coolness with Apple. They are instead choosing to go the practical message route, albeit through satire.
Also keep in mind that while you or I can pick up the iPhone and use it with ease, an older generation is more comparable to the drunken man on the mechanical bull you alluded to when it comes to mobile technology, and this generation is the one buying a majority of cell phones. Knowing that their network will be with them everywhere is undoubtedly more important to them than knowing how to translate a phrase into German at the swipe of a finger.