“Verizon Wireless, the carrier for the device, had 200,000 Droid phones on hand, and most stores sold at least half of their stock, Mark McKechnie at Broadpoint AmTech Inc. said yesterday,” Miller and Thomson report.
“Motorola and Verizon are competing against a new version of Apple’s iPhone, offered in the U.S. through AT&T Inc. Apple sold more than 1 million of the latest model in its weekend debut in June,” Miller and Thomson report.
MacDailyNews Note: Back in July 2008, Apple sold over one million of the previous model, iPhone 3G, in its opening weekend, too.
Miller and Thomson report, “‘It wasn’t as good as the iPhone, but anybody that was expecting that had their expectations too high,’ said Jim Suva, an analyst at Citigroup Inc. in San Francisco… ‘I have this nagging suspicion that Android is being overestimated by technology enthusiasts,’ said KM Partners analyst Tero Kuittinen, who is based in Greenwich, Connecticut. He advises investors to sell Motorola shares, which he doesn’t own. ‘They haven’t really resonated with average consumers.'”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take:
Direct link to video via YouTube here.
Verizon = FAIL!!!!!!
royal:
…”Like Steve Jobs did with Xerox?”
False. Steve Jobs was invited to PARC (Xerox research centre), saw the GUI, asked them if they are doing anything with it, they said they didn’t, so he asked if he can use the idea. They didn’t mind (Xerox had their collective heads up their collective asses at the time). In other words, Jobs didn’t see another computer, like its interface or OS, then go back to his garage, reverse-engineered the system and developed his own copy-cat solution. He took an intriguing idea that nobody knew what to do with (including the original creator if the idea) and build an OS.
These new smartphones would have NEVER existed were there not for iPhone. They ALL are result of copying of Apple’s work and presenting is as innovation. Apparently, though, the consumers aren’t that dumb and can tell a copy from an original, which explains why Droid sold 1/10 of the number of iPhones (or 1/7 of the original, EDGE devices on its first weekend).
not bad… considering iphone had seven months of unending hype and then sold 700,000 its first weekend. droid, with 2 weeks did 100,000.
i switched from iphone to droid because at&t;is awful in new york city. i’m loving it — this phone FLIES.
Predrag: I end up posting AT&T instead of AT&T;
At least you have a good enough sense of humor to see the humor in this!
Apple also paid several hundred million dollars to Xerox in cash and company stock to have its engineers visit the PARC to get the ideas for the Lisa and then Macintosh.
Apple’s smartphone competitors all paid Apple hundreds of millions of dollars to copy the iPhone too.. oh.. wait.
compson,
AT&T may not have great coverage in NYC, but the Droid does not fly.
I’m waiting to see the return rates on this thing. Scoble says the battery door popped off on him in the first day of use, and the camera app crashed! Oops..
http://scobleizer.com/2009/11/08/droid-palm-pre-iphone-product-comparison
@twilightmoon
mine does. i have my iphone 3g and my droid sitting here next to me. the droid blows the iphone away in every imaginable speed test — data, user interface, app launching, etc.
i’m no hater. i worked in an apple store for three years, and sold literally hundreds of iphones. i was given an iphone when it initially launched. it is an excellent product, but someone has finally figured out how to make the UI look dated, and attached it to a network that isn’t awful. add the very simple google and facebook syncing, and its a no-brainer. really.
I agree with some here who remind us that numbers does not always reflect success as Apple fans should know. And the lack of international sales cannot be overlooked. However, the chip on Apple fans shoulders cannot be overlooked either. We are forced to use MS at school, work etc. We constantly are told we are stupid fanboys as though the accusing Windows users aren’t MS fanboys themselves. Every phone is the Next iPhone Killer. So, of course we act with glee when non-Apple sales are less than stellar. Plus, with all the media hype, Droid sales WERE disappointing by any standard.
…”iphone had seven months of unending hype and then sold 700,000 its first weekend”
Don’t forget, you could buy three droids for the price of each one of those 700,000 phones (i.e. vast majority of those iPhones were the $600 8GB models).
It would be an exaggeration to say that the Droid is a massive failure, but it is certainly far from success. Not as lame as the Pre (50,000 on opening weekend), but still, nothing spectacular.
Android is probably the best non-iPhone OS out there, and it isn’t all that polished.
I think many posters on this site mistake schadenfreude for hate.
@ compson –
So your brand new Droid phone is faster than the old model iPhone. Gee, too bad you don’t have an actual CURRENT iPhone to compare it against…
Troll warning, anyone?
@Deus
we can all pretty much agree that ATT&T;is the weakest with regard to the iPhone experience.
Because they are the ONLY one’s with the iPhone. If Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile had it too, the iPhone would betray the weakness of those carriers as well.
How about it, Europe?
You can’t swing a cat in Europe without roaming into some other carriers air space. So, with the iPhone in every carrier’s inventory, do you have some idea of how one goes about comparing or measuring a carriers performance and services across the board, using iPhone as a standard?
@Predrag
Android is probably the best non-iPhone OS out there, and it isn’t all that polished.
And like Android, the iPhone is a moving target, that will shine bright with age.
@ compson
Yes, but can you find yourself on the phones map, while talking to your mother?
No? Gee that’s too bad. Hang up on your mother while you figure out where you are.
@mike, @g4dualie
jeez, guys. i’m no troll — i own a significant amount of apple stock, i’m a former apple employee, and i’m a consumer. for my needs, droid works better. period.
you should not find this insulting in any way. its a product. i’ve chosen another product to use in its place. if you are taking this personally, i suggest you get out more!
as a shareholder, i think the question is this: android is only going to improve. the development community loves an open source project, and with google’s backing, android is a surefire competitor in this space. what is apple doing to make sure it keeps improving, too?
@G4Dualie:
“Because they are the ONLY one’s with the iPhone. If Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile had it too, the iPhone would betray the weakness of those carriers as well.”
Right! ATT’s exclusivity deal with Apple has allowed them to use the iPhone as a differentiator to other networks. If ALL carriers had deals with Apple, then ATT would have to compete on the merits of their network performance (coverage, speed, etc.) like all the others.
@compson
You still didn’t answer my question about using Maps while making phone calls, did you? And no one said you were a troll. But what I find suspect, is your tendency to offer up your resume, prior to saying anything negative about Apple.
Most Apple folk I know don’t have to do that. Because their negatives will either resonate with the group of they don’t and right now, you’re cheering the Droid but you’ve only had it for what, a day? two tops?
After all, you only used a single metric to compare the Droid to your iPhone, and that’s speed.
There is WAY too much going for the iPhone besides speed. Check back, in say 6-months, and tell us how efficient your network is once Droid begins to sell in greater numbers.
Compson says, as a shareholder, i think the question is this: android is only going to improve. the development community loves an open source project, and with google’s backing, android is a surefire competitor in this space. what is apple doing to make sure it keeps improving, too?
You still haven’t figured that out? And you once worked for Apple? No wonder you don’t anymore. Let me spell it out for you. Google doesn’t make phones and neither does Verizon. They don’t make much of anything do they, besides money?
Apple on the other hand, does retail, computers, telephony, cloud-computing, software, servers, operating systems, and other than Google’s AdSense, Apple probably provides the greater opportunity for myriad industries to make money off their creations.
If you’re betting against Apple, in favor of the Droid, I’ll take some of that action.
How’s that Verizon Droid App Store, anyway?
@ Deus
ALL carriers had deals with Apple, then ATT would have to compete on the merits of their network performance (coverage, speed, etc.) like all the others.
That is the point I have been hammering home for months. The iPhone will be the Great Leveler where carrier service and customer relations are concerned.
Right now, there are so many different flavors of phones the carriers have to support, that it must be like banging one’s head against the wall trying to resolve telephony issues and the like, for all parties concerned.
If all carriers only had iPhones, do you realize how quickly it would be to realize the shortcomings of each and every carrier. But, we know that’s not going to happen, however, as long as Apple continues to take the lead, and others insist on emulating Apple’s progress and business sense to reach a level of parity comparable to the iPhone, then perhaps we’ll find some way or some metric to compare services using the iPhone as an industry standard.
In the words of Obi-Wan, “Move along.”
Great take MDN!
Well, there’s another major Droid issue: saw this in Computerworld and confirmed with the test Droid we got today. Companies with Exchange will most likely reject the Droid since you can’t use any security policies and can’t even do a remote wipe if/when someone leaves the company. Pitiful.
@g4dualie
Whoa, tiger. There is no need to get angry. You clearly have your version of the facts and I have mine. That’s cool.
My only point is that at&t;is not usable in new york and brooklyn. I switched carriers and happened to find a great phone. No need to be rude. There is space in the market for two smartphones. Speed and network reliability are what matter most to me and iPhone plus att just aren’t doing it.
Oh, I stopped working for apple because I graduated from law school. It was n excellent job for a student, but now that I’m out of the rdf I can see things a bit more clearly.
Compson- considering the legal market is total crap now- you may need to go back to the Apple store gig!
Seriously though- in terms of quality, experience, options, etc- the iPhone is by far the best phone on the market- light years ahead of anyone else. Sure- Android may be a worthy competitor in the future since it will be on tons of phones, but that is still hypothetical and quality is probably still going to be an issue- all speculation at this point.
Lastly, it is obvious to everyone that Apple is moving away from carrier exclusivity all over the world. As soon as LTE is deployed Apple can release the same hardware on AT&T;and Verizon and maybe Tmobile without designing a new phone that uses CDMA. I agree, overall Verizon is a better network, but not as much as people assume. And lastly, in terms of speed, the 3GS is at least as fast as the Droid.
Compson
You must be mistaken about liking your new phone. Step back into the rtf with the rest of us.
I got a Droid and love it. It actually works at full network speed in many more places than my iPhone did.
Anything with a physical keyboard is dead in the water! People want simplicity, elegance, iTunes, and mobile OSX! people forget it’s the software, not the hardware that’s the magic! Therein lies the secret of complete iPhone dominance! It’s NOT the hardware!!!