“Motorola’s Droid, the big touch-screen phone that made its closely watched sales debut at Verizon stores earlier this month, arrived to a mixed reception. It was quickly apparent that the $200 device, powered by Google Android technology, wasn’t going to immediately — or possibly ever — knock the iPhone off its pedestal,” Moritz reports.
MacDailyNews Take: That much was obvious regardless of what Motorola produced.
Moritz continues, “Droid is many things, but it isn’t a blockbuster… But the Pre phone at Sprint started with less than a bang and has been nothing but a whimper since. The Droid’s arrival has effectively crowded Palm out of market. And whatever the Droid didn’t accomplish, Pre’s price cuts and the cheaper Pixi phone will.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Yup, in this headline, you get two, count ’em, two “beleaguereds” for the price of one; just like BlackBerries at Verizon.
Ahhh, beleagured…
Yes, I’ve been with Apple since the eighties, and I remember when they were deemed to be so.
I never stopped my Apple evangelism though. In the late nineties people would say stuff like, “I heard they were going out of business,” or “Are they still around?”
I also remember Michael Dell’s picture on Steve’s dart board.
My, how times have changed.
I use to hate Macs. Then I had to use the new Mac Classic II when it came out. Been hooked ever since. It has been a wonderful ride. We ain’t beleaguered no more.
If you are new to Mac, be sure to check out:
http://www.folklore.org/
Full of great stories.
Forget the cow bell, more beleaguered!
“I swear to God I’m going to pistol whip the next guy who says ‘beleaguered’…”
“Beleaguered”
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beleaguered’.beleaguered’.beleaguered’.beleaguered’.beleaguered’.
ogre – whip me…please.
Beleaguered, Bothered, and Befuddled.
I love the smell of beleaguered in the morning … It smells like victory!
…”T-Mobile is very silent in the midst of all this smartphone rollout.”
Silverhawk, Have you NOT seen the massive advertising for “MyTouch (by Google)”? They got several well-known Hollywood people plugging it (Molly Shanon, Chevy Chase, Woopie Goldberg, Dana Carvey and several others).
It is called HTC Magic in non-US markets, and is essentially the same as G1 except:
No physical keyboard (thus thinner)
Longer battery life.
Other things are same (same RAM, same ROM, same screen size/pixel count, same microSD card size — 4GB, same HSDPA/HSUPA, WiFi and BlueTooth, same camera…). And same OS (Android 1.5, a step below Droid’s 2.0).
@ Predrag
And T- mobile is the only other major US carrier that could put the Iphone on their network now. T-Mobile and AT&T;are GSM
And for All those Verizon folks that wish for a CDMA I-phone- keep wishing. It ain’t gonna happen. Why?
Globally GSM is 80% – CDMA and others – 20% . Only in the US is CDMA and others about 67%of the users, and 33% GSM. –
( source: Wireless Intelligence 4Q08). Apple doesnt’ think nationally but globally so – Why should the spend r&d;resources on developing a phone that will only work in 20% and the Cell networks in the world.
IHaving said that ,I wish that T-mobile would carry the I-phone like the already do in Germany, Just so that there was some price competition between two carriers. Plus more G3 Network
CDMA is no obstacle. Chipsets have long existed and are extremely cheap, as is the engineering. Apple most certainly does NOT need to re-invent the wheel. Many phone makers have done this many times before (same model, two variants — GSM, CDMA).
Apple is locked in with AT&T due to the massive subsidy. All other smartphones fetch up to $250 from the carriers in up-front subsidy, which is then recovered by the carrier through the $70+ monthly voice+data plan over 18-20 months. Apple is getting $450 from AT&T. That subsidy cannot be recovered during the term of the initial two-year contract (it takes around 30 months to get it back).
If T-Mobile (or anyone else) also got the iPhone, AT&T would immediately have to lower that subsidy. Otherwise, they would risk never getting it back, since customers tend to jump carriers often, whenever there’s a good enough incentive (free or cheap phone, better plan). If people end up jumping to T-Mobile, they’d leave their iPhones behind (you can’t hand the old iPhone down to your kid if you have a family plan on T-Mobile). Most of those iPhones will end up in drawers, or overseas. Most of them won’t continue to recover that subsidy.
Until Apple figures out how to significantly reduce manufacturing costs, and accept reducing margins a bit, we won’t see multiple carriers in the US. Nobody wants to pay $400 for an iPhone; today, $200 is the upper limit.
@Predrag
“Apple is getting $450 from AT&T;. That subsidy cannot be recovered during the term of the initial two-year contract (it takes around 30 months to get it back).”
Can you provide a source for the 30 month recovery info?
Sigh. Ok, Fine. I’ll be the one to say it;
B…b…b…but but but multi-tasking!
There now are you all happy?