Verizon Wireless unveiled a new cell phone today for the holiday season: a LG handset named “Voyager” that Verizon hopes “will compete with Apple Inc’s iPhone,” Sinead Carew reports for Reuters.
“Verizon Wireless hopes the new phone will attract customers put off by the iPhone’s lack of a traditional keypad — the Voyager hinges open to reveal a small computer keypad and a second screen,” Carew reports.
MacDailyNews Take: The only people “put off by iPhone’s lack of a traditional keypad” are people who haven’t used an iPhone.
Carew continues, “‘We think it’ll be the best phone … this year. It will kill the iPhone,’ Verizon Wireless Chief Marketing Officer Mike Lanman said in an interview.”
Carew reports, “Current Analysis analyst Avi Greengart said the Voyager may attract existing Verizon subscribers who do not want to switch service providers, but he doubted it would hurt iPhone sales. ‘People who want a high-end media phone and want to stay with Verizon will certainly give that one a hard look. I don’t know that it would pull anybody away from an iPhone,’ he said.”
Verizon Wireless would not give exact pricing, but the “Voyager” is expected to retail for about $400 according to the report. Apple’s iPhone costs $399. Voyager will offer a 2-megapixel camera and a slot for 8GB of extra memory. “Voyager” also looks to be at least twice as thick as iPhone. Apple’s iPhone has a 2-megapixel camera and 8GB of built-in storage. Oh, yeah, unlike the “Voyager,” Apple’s thin iPhone also has a multi-touch UI, a real OS, and a real iPod with access to the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store. Voyager will launch “before the end of November,” Carew reports.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers too numerous to mention for the heads up.]
Yet another phone made to look externally somewhat like Apple’s iPhone. How stupid do they think people are? Verizon’s Chief Marketing Officer Mike Lanman is one seriously delusional bastage if he really believes that thing is “the best phone this year” and that “it will kill” Apple’s iPhone.