Today is Droid day — an event that I, like many tech bloggers, have been looking forward to for quite some time. Unlike some people, I wasn’t graced with a test Droid last week, so I was forced to go out and get one the old fashioned way: by getting to the store as early as possible, before the precious devices sold out. And while I was concerned about falling prey to a supply shortage, a part of me still hoped there would be many others like me, helping justify my early morning rise. These are my notes as I searched for the unexpectedly elusive Verizon Droid line.
5:30 AM. I woke up this morning to the soothing chimes of my over-priced alarm clock, took a look at the ungodly hour, and immediately sank back into my pillow. It wasn’t until my second alarm (strategically positioned far out of arm’s reach) kicked in that I remembered the task at hand: Droid day.
Ah yes, the phone that seemingly came out of nowhere — at least to those who haven’t had their ear to the ground on Android phone news, which until now has largely been a steady stream of mediocracy, fueled by underpowered CPUs and generic UIs. But Droid has something special. Mostly, it’s the phone’s heavy duty processor, but there’s also its brilliant screen, much-improved operating system, and the fact that it runs on a network that doesn’t leave people screaming profanities (at least until they get their monthly bill).
So I embarked this morning to the Palo Alto Verizon store, hoping to use a Qik live stream to capture the festive line of Droid fans sure to be present. After all, Verizon customers have plenty to celebrate — though they’re on the nation’s best network, they’ve long been burdened with an underwhelming selection of phones. This is the first time they’ve had a chance to pick up a device that’s a viable alternative to the iPhone. And with Verizon’s marketing onslaught over the last few weeks, not to mention the generally very positive reviews, I expected the turnout to be good. Not Apple good mind you — no marketing push can match Steve Jobs’ mystical mind control over a rabid fanbase of millions. But this was the heart of Silicon Valley, where gadget geeks flourish.
Alas, it seems that my expectations were unwarranted. I walked up to the Verizon store no later than 6:20 AM, forty minutes before the 7:00 AM opening time (three hours earlier than usual in light of the big day). But no sooner had I arrived than I began to question my still-groggy mental state. The Verizon sign was directly above my head. There were five or six employees buzzing around the well-lit store, two of whom were decked out in bizarre Droid-branded outfits, complete with black leather vests. But the street could not have been more empty.
The door cracked open. One of the employees, perhaps concerned by my confused expression or excited that someone had actually shown up, had come to talk to me. Yes, I was in the right place. Yes, they were due to open in a little more than half an hour. And yes, they too had expected more than one person to be standing in front of the store at this point. The door closed again.
A few minutes later I was joined by two new Droid fans. Unfortunately, my excitement over my new friends was rather shortlived — the newcomers turned down my offer of free TechCrunch T-shirts, and informed me that they weren’t actually waiting in line, but had come to witness it for themselves too. As it turned out, they were members of the Android team, who were also apparently let down by the sad turn out. But, as they quickly pointed out, the line was not actually as empty as it seemed! For I had neglected to take into account the three cars parked at the side of the road, each of which was occupied by one future Droid customer. And we were also joined by one other person, who was officially the first person in line, a mere 30 minutes before the store opened. You can relive this moment in the poorly shot video below.
Over the course of the next half hour we were joined by perhaps four more people. I was cheered up by the fact that many of them accepted my offers of free TechCrunch T-shirts (the Android team members eventually caved and asked for some too). But the atmosphere was oddly solemn as we tried to brainstorm where everyone else could possibly be. We eventually arrived at the conclusion that people may have decided to head to the nearby Best Buy, which actually offers a better deal because they take care of the Droid’s $100 mail-in rebate for you (Verizon makes you go through rebate hell). It was time to look elsewhere for a line. You can see our heartfelt goodbyes in the video below.
Thus, I set out on part two of my journey, which was even more boring than part one. I’ll spare you the details, but suffice to say, there wasn’t a single person in front of the Best Buy. Not even an Android team member. My quest was a failure. There are lines being reported in places — dozens of them — across the country, and I was unable to find one.
All of this would bother me more, were it not for the fact that I now have a Droid sitting on my desk. Over the course of the last few hours, I’ve gradually come to the conclusion that this thing rocks, plain and simple. I’ll always have a soft spot for the iPhone, but for this generation of smart phones, at least, I’ve made my choice.
Was the first one inline a half hour before the store opened in Chicago. Was maybe 10 or so before the store opened.
According to Cnet it was a little bit slow nonetheless a good start of droid, other “critiques” says otherwise. But I say, “Hell yeah! droid conquered US for a couple of hours today”. We just hope that their ROI is profitable compare to the hunderds of thousand worth of ads they spend during the promotion period and err.. did I say, their impending “lawsuit” with AT&T too?
Collation of info about droid release today: http://bit.ly/d...uered-USA-today
Hope Droid will serve as a hand of midas to Verizon Corp. Soweet
Not a good start. Got unit home shows zero bars, frozen Internet access. Processes 50 fifty percent and freeZes with battery power showing green. can still receive calls. Can do a google search but won’t link to a site. Houston ….I cannot reach TC. breify paralyzed till I remembered i still had my trusty iPhone showing 5 of 6 bars and delivering me to TC to share my droid ride. More to come….watch the qik video on our site.
Could it be there were no lines because the commercials on TV have been unintelligible (but they’ll probably win an award) and the general public (unlike us who blog and follow tech items) doesn’t even know about this turn in technology?
I look forward to learning more from you about the operation of the phone and all the things you can do with it.
Charlie Seymour Jr
http://twitter....m/AllFromMyKids
Totally agree with Charlie. I doubt very people outside of the industry have any idea about droid and the tv commercial was so cryptic. What is droid’s image anyway? A phone doesn’t have to be the best out there to become popular – anyone remember the razr – but it does need an image.
Turns in technology (consumer technology at least) are defined by the general public. Not noticed by them.
Talk about marketing fail. The biggest line I heard was “about a hundred” in Manhattan.
At this rate the Droid will be yet another failed iKiller.
Speaking about commercials, notice how Apple keeps them simple and to the point by highlighting THE APPS on the phone, aside from the phone itself.
People are now attracted to software, while hardware plus software is what geeks love.
Apple wins.
people are still attracted to “apps that apple promoted to them”; nothing escapes the apple brand
Two problems with looking for a line. One is absolutely the cryptic ads… only folks who know what the DROID is anyway are likely to understand either ad.
I did the 6AM thing for a Verizon store in Deptford, NJ, and there were a handful of others waiting outside. My wife rather nailed the lack of population… most people are currently under contract somewhere. And I would add that ubergeeks… those of us foolish enough to get up at 5:15AM just to get a new cellphone… we’re more likely than most to have a recent smart phone.
In my defense, I was anti-iPhone anyway, and after my Treo died (about a year ago), I waited for something reasonable, non-iPhone, and on Verizon (preferably) or AT&T, so I had a prayer of getting a single at home. This means, of course, that I was totally tuned into everything happening in the Android world, since with Android out there, no other smart phone OS makes sense. Motorola alone has 350 people doing Android stuff… it’s likely to be a juggernaut, but one of those rare ones that’s actually a good thing.
So when I first read about “DROID” awhile back, I knew that was for me. Having one now, I still think so… Best Phone Ever. Also best PDA ever.
The problem is Verizon stores make you pony up $300. Best buy only makes you pay $200, and wirefly is only charging $149.
I don’t see the point in waiting in line, early in the morning, to pay literally twice as much.
Also I think the ads were targeted to a very specific demographic probably by design. I would expect some more mass appeal ads to come.
Fun story.
yes hahaha
So is the red santa getup a verizon thing? I was not aware of that haha
from first video “i was planning to livestream but there wasn’t really anything to livestream.” hah. screw those android guys, i’m not gonna wear their stupid tshirts, either.
I’ll wear a TechCrunch t-shirt Mike. Matter of fact, I’ll wear it everyday
I think I know you!
You are the guy with brown nose right?
what? Mike, I thought you liked Android…
I am sad and confused.
Mike likes whatever creates an argument or flamewar. He would make an awesome tabloid writer
lol not-so-epic indeed.
Same here in the San Fernando Valley, they still even had a bunch of the car & media docks on display (Encino, Ca).
Yeah, I went to the Verizon store around noon and there was 2 people in line waiting to play with the droid. I paused and walked out. No big rush and nothing to get excited about. If my memory serves me correctly, didn’t Apple do a limited release to only a few locations in the first days of the Iphone.
No.
Had a similar experience – I was going to wake up early but (fortunately) I was too tired. Got into work at normal time, walked over to Verizon Store central to EVERYTHING in downtown DC and couldn’t believe there was no line.
Only had to wait behind 3 people, in and out in no time.
My theory is that people have been through one too many hype-cycles at this point and are waiting to see if the post-release murmur lives up to its pre-release “we’ll see but this could be a winner” chatter.
After getting 3rd-degree burned by the Samsung Omnia the only thing that kept me from killing a multi-year relationship with Verizon for the iPhone was the Android OS.
or maybe everyone else mailordered theirs.
so very underwhelming…even with all those commercials and an on google.com. hah, i bet they lost money diverting clicks to the verizon store instead of gaining search revenue
Hilarious…thanks Jason. I needed a laugh today.
-MK
Another iPhone killer eats dirt where even in the valley the techs are apathetic about it…finding the next iPhone killer is like finding the next Tiger, Jordan, Federer or Slater and perhaps it is another generation away yet despite the hype the tech community tried to put into it.
The phone is still great. Android’s rise will be about stamina, not huge sales the day phones are released.
agreed
Well, Google has stamina and funds, what about Motorola and the other handset manufacturers? Unless you win the hearts and minds of the consumer and lets face it, Motorola doesn’t give that warm feeling to users, Android will continue to struggle with these manufacturers.
Agreed…looks like “Slow & Steady wins the race….” With lot of android based phones releasing in next few months, the android market will catch up the race…………exciting to watch the smartphones development….
Droid’s rise will continue until June 2010.
Why? What happens then – the latest release of an already tired form factor?
It’s all so Summer 2009.
The tired form factor being copied by every phone including the Droid?
Oh Mark A, you make me laugh every time.
Unfortunately for Apple, this can wind up like the 1980’s all over again. The Droid (or alternatives) need to bring the price down ASAP. Then there will be a similar/good enough solution out there for a much reduced price.
I hate to say it (because I don’t like how Google is destroying value chains every time they touch something…which under the guise of “bringing competition”, effectively leads to net job destruction), but I’ve seen this movie before.
Well at least someone knows about Federer!
Verizon might have rained n their own parade last night when they sent out a mass email saying “Beat the lines: Order online now!”
After two hours of trying to order online I gave up. Their servers were just not responding, and clearly not ready for the load.
So I walked into the Verizon store at 11am today and picked one up. There were 3 or 4 others in the store getting Droids too, but the wait for service was only about 5 minutes.
The downside: If you purchase in-store they give you a form you have to sign and snail-mail back to get your Verizon customer upgrade rebate. Online they give you the rebate automatically.
I went on my lunch break @ noon in Rochester, NY and it took about half hour to get to purchase mine. Apparently there was a line out the door at 10am when they opened this morning. Not as impressive as I thought the turn out would be, but hey, at least I didn’t have to wait too long for it.
BTW this thing is amazing.
DOA
Apple’s iPhone lines are about cultish dedication to a brand and a community around that brand.
I’m excited to get my Droid tomorrow, but most normal people don’t crave the experience of camping out for a gadget they can just get easily later in the day.
By the way, the Verizon store in the SF Financial District was crowded. But no lines.
Years leading up to the iPhone launch, Apple had created a cult-like following due to the iPod. Motorola will never have a cult-like following period. If anything, I think Google should engineer and manufacture their own Android phone. Now THAT could be an iPhone killer.
Amen!
I’m tired of being locked into a carrier’s idea of what’s good on my phone. I want a phone to be like a computer. Generic. I can put whatever I want on it. And… more importantly… I can upgrade when *I* want to. Not when Motorola or Verizon or Apple decides they want me to. If they ever decide they want me to. They make more money if they don’t let me upgrade software, so I have to buy the next hardware ‘thing.’
Yeah, no lines on the north side of Chicago either. Though, I would have totally taken a TechCrunch t-shirt.
looks like a repeat of palm pre
Agreed, especially after going to the local Verizon store and playing with both the Motorola and HTC models. An original iPhone owner, I was very unimpressed with both of these new phones.
Maybe things will look up in three months when my AT&T contract expires.
the difference is – it doesn’t make a difference on the “app” side of things since apps will work across all sorts of android handsets – unlike the pre which is whacko altogheter.
android across carriers and handsets is the assault on apple – not Droid.
What the hell? Why were you expecting such large queues. the iPhone has large queueue on launch due to the iPod. They took al lthe momentum of the iPod and put it into the iPhone launch. There is no previous droid. So perhaps the NEXT MOTOROLA DROID will have a big turnout.
No queues ever form when new iPods or Macs come out, so your explanation about iPhone queues doesn’t quite hold water.
I bought online, though I have to wait till Monday to get it. Instant rebate+NE2 (something I heard Best Buy doesn’t recognize) plus I don’t really trust those customer service reps, most of them are tards. A check card rebate sounded pretty lame, plus I usually dont care about the rebate after I purchase. So, I got a $149 Droid on the VZW site, with free shipping.
PS: the tax is $49 on that beast, from a $559 retail in CA
You guys like to play this up as iPhone vs. Whatever, but the reality is this is just a replay of the Mac vs PC in a smaller form factor (perhaps with Apple learning from some of the mistakes they made back in the 80s).
By that I mean you’re going to have the iPhone market, and you’re going to have the splintered Android/Linux market, running a more “open” and fractured OS on thousands of devices.
And at the end of the day, the people that will pay more to have something that just works and has a great design aesthetic will buy the iPhone, and the rest will be one of the hundreds of varieties of Android.
Apple’s margins will continue to be huge, and they’ll lose the marketshare battle, but destroy in the margin battle, which is all they’ve ever cared about.
MGZ
Why should any sane hardware company care about anything other than the margin battle? Motorola, HTC, LG, etc. should have their heads examined.
I could dig a TC t-shirt…
I ordered my Droid over-the-phone and will have it tomorrow via FedEx…no lines for me… and since Verizon hasn’t had a phone worth buying in forever, it only set me back $99…Overall, I have always been happy with Verizon, but as noted, they aren’t the cheapest game in town.
Well since nobody else said it I will, there is nothing earth shattering about this phone which explains why there are no lines. Aside from Apples fan community and marketing campaign they also released the iPhone to a market that had absolutely nothing like it. Geeks and normal folks alike clamored to get this new magical phone type device because it was new.
So now years later what do we have? I am not saying the Droid (and Android software) does not deserve respect but it’s the phone competing with the iPhone which just makes it an option and not the forerunner of anything remarkable.
It may become a great phone, may even surpass the iPhone in awesome factor (whatever that means) but the iPhone will for ever be known as the first to do it. The standard to which others now compete.
On my drive to work this morning I passed by the Verizon store in Emeryville. It was about 8:30, and I saw probably 4 Verizon employees standing around outside – and another 3 or 4 sitting around inside. . . not a customer in sight.
Since I was headed to Best Buy to pick up my pre-order in a few hours, I was let down by the apparent lack of broad interest, but like you, Jason, I didn’t care anymore once I had my phone in hand! I thought I’d like it – but it’s exceeding my expectations. . . and that’s tough to do!
This is a phone that will get more attention as people see others using it. I think the long-term sales will be strong, even if the initial launch is leaving something to be desired.
I waited for 30 minutes at 7am this morning in a store in San Diego that doesn’t normally open until 9. Verizon had 10 employees or so at the register signing people up. After my second cup of complimentary Starbucks, I realized I should probably get to work. Why is it all the people waiting in line for iPhones don’t have to get to work?
People who want to buy Droids have jobs. People who own IPhones don’t.
Just how did you come to that conclusion?
There were a little over a dozen others at Best Buy in SF while I was there. It took a couple of hours to get through the line and get signed up; getting phone service is still absurdly slow most of the time.
I was converting for the second time in a month: from AT&T (iPhones for 2.5 years; fed up with dropped calls and bad app store policies) to Sprint (Hero), and then to Verizon just a couple of days before my 30 day trial period was up with Sprint.
Very good phone, very good network.
How is the Hero compared to the Droid?
Sprint Hero to Verizon Droid was exactly my path as well. And Aaron, there are BIG differences between the two as far as I’m concerned. On the plus side for the Hero, that Sense UI is slick business. I also liked the feel in my hand, and the soft coat on the back usually got people’s attention when I handed it to them. Sprint’s pricing is pretty great, too – with unlimited SMS/MMS, data, mobile-to-mobile calling, SprintTV and Sprint Navigation and 7pm to 7am nights & weekends (THANK YOU) for $69.99. Impressive. I was sad to leave that plan behind.
. . . But the Droid has it all on the Hero when it comes to power, battery life, that amazing screen resolution (stunning), far better video recording, build quality and Android 2.0 (which the Hero will apparently get soon.) That last bit is a big deal to me, though. . . . Custom UI’s like HTC’s Sense, while beautiful, spell unfortunate delays for OS updates, which is why I’m excited to have a Google Experience phone now.
And Verizon is already working better in my apartment than Sprint did. Extremely happy to have traded up to the Droid!
Oh, I’m sure the Droid is better than the Hero – I’m just debating how much so. Over 2 years, the Hero is about $800 cheaper than the Droid (family plans) – I’m still debating if it is $800 better.
No line for me, but the Verizon store was crowded at 7am. I was out of there within 30 minutes with my new Droid. First observations: (1) the only ladies in the store were sales personnel, (2) Verizon did not have the software to convert my existing contacts, (3) even with 2 days of training, the staff was still on the learning curve. But, everyone was smiling, everyone was nice, and after swiping my credit card I ran home to play. 2 hours later — I still love it! It’s HEAVY, but it is soooo cool. One note, I bought all the accessories and when the Droid is outfit with the rubber protector sleeve it does not fit in the GPS car mount.
Still, I connected it to all my email accounts, enabled universal inbox, moved a ton of pictures and music onto the SD card (via simple USB drag and drop) – and barely put a dent in the 16GB memory. I synced all my contacts from Outlook (via gmail import) and then enabled the Facebook connection. Contacts started automatically populating with their profile pictures and now I’m off and running. Call quality is awesome, the speaker phone rocks, and music sounds great (plus there’s a headphone jack). Certainly it’s not perfect, but the triad of Google + Motorola + Verizon is highly incentivized to keep things fresh. And, did I mention it’s heavy (could be used as a self-defense weapon in a pinch)? In any case – no buyers remorse here!
[NOTE: I tried to post this much earlier in the day but kept getting DB errors on TC -- bummer, but glad it's now fixed!]
So, I was surprisingly underwhelmed by the turnout to get the Droid…I went to the Verizon Store at 7:30AM in the Mission in SF and there was no line, no wait, and i was helped immediately.
I talked to the managers of the store (although it seemed like everyone had a badge with “manager” on it) and they said they were fully expecting way more…there were like 12 employees in this little store of which had the lead keep asking…”how many”…to which each employee would be like…”um…same as last time…2″…lol…
Granted…I bought the thing and I’m actually really enjoying the phone…most importantly, the Verizon network…the verdict is still out whether it replaces my iPhone.
Droid does not look as cool as iPhone
um…
Search for the epic “fail” ?!?
Am I the only one who thinks that the droid will not be competing with the iPhone as it runs in its own ecosystem but will be competing with phones like LG Cookie, Samsung Star and the giant army of Nokia’s if the price stays the same when spreading to other parts of the world?
And if the price will be significantly higher in let’s say Europe, who will care? If you’ve got an iPhone for the same amount of money then the average Joe’s decision will be made quickly. Buy some unknown phone which I’ve seen in some ad or the amazing generally adored iPhone for the same price, hmm.
Of course other phones than the iPhone rule the market, in the nerdish community people care about the droid and the fact that it’s open and coming from Google. In the real world people only care about touch screen, price and status. If they can get a cheap phone that makes them look like they are important then they’ll buy it.
As long as the traditional phone manufacturers keep lowering their prices and keep manufacturing phones that look good people will buy those and the market will stay fragmented.
So no, Android will never rule the market considering that techies only represent a few percents of the market. For you this thing is amazing for the people in the streets, it’s just another phone.
Guys fret no more, finally the EAGLE has landed. Let us welcome droid today. Along with HTC droid as good “wingman” ?
According to Cnet it was a little bit slow nonetheless a good start of droid, other “critiques” says otherwise. But I say, “Hell yeah! droid conquered US for a couple of hours today”.
Collation of info about droid release today: http://bit.ly/d...uered-USA-today
Kudus to techcrunch for that “nerherd” vid-clip. thanks man.!
i set my alarm for 5:45, but forgot to turn it on! ended up getting to the store around 7AM..there were abuot 5 customers buying droids, i had to put my name in the queue..i was called up about 2 minutes later..and 30 min later walked out w/ my droid.
at my store people were trickling in, there wasn’t really a line, but every CSR was helping a person buy a droid..as one person left another would come in..
then i headed to work w/o charging it (they never come full charged it seems) and left the charger at home..i listened to streaming internet radio on the commute to work via the droid..and it promptly ran out of batteries 3 hours after i had purchased it…now i can’t wait to get home to charge it up and play with it some moore
Some of my physician friends are eager to get the Droid and were trying to buy online today…
oh.
And I just discovered that the “unlimited” droid data plan is “limited” to 5GB of data.
http://bit.ly/4poDdy
How very sad.
Welcome to the world of Verizon.
From cnet article Nov 7:
Beginning Nov. 15, Verizon subscribers looking to get out of their smart-phone contracts early will pay $350 for the privilege. That early-termination fee is double the current one, but Verizon insists it’s justified because of the higher prices of today’s phones.
i love how tech bloggers were so quick to say that developers were going to FLOCK to android now because of droid. think they need CONSUMERS to flock there first don’t u think?
I got online this morning only to discover that my Verizon every-two-year discount kicks in next Tuesday. An exercise in delayed gratification. I guess there will be phones left…
Droid actually competes with Palm Pre!
In the store there were two other customers. One bought LG Touch and second person bought Blackberry Tour!
I was in Columbus Circle (NYC) today, and there were atleast 30 people in the store constantly from 10-2. I was pretty surprised.
that is so unfair. you can’t just dump the iphone. remember that phone was there to cater for you in the hour you most needed it (in the bathroom). i just can’t believe how partial you are being in promoting droid
Well I guess the iphone will till be # 1 and the lets wait and see if an iphone real killer will ever be made. I say never and I will bet on it.
most probably droid will not be the one iphone killer. but droid is just one of hundreds of handsets that will eventually make android the system that crashed apple. and this time no iphone update will be able to save apple.
Kind of like how “Plays For Sure” killed the iPod. Oh wait…
The iPhone had an appeal far beyond the tech community. It rode on the Apple brand, and had a clear, compelling story to tell: it had a cool new interface.
The Droid’s biggest selling point is that is uses Android. 99% of the general public has no idea what that is. There is no single compelling new feature that makes an easy story to tell. Motorola is not exactly the exciting brand Apple is.
It may be hard for some geeks to see, but people don’t queue up because of technology. They do it becaue of exciting brands. The iPhone is one. The Droid, not so much.
http://www.amusis.com
+1
Another person with a view outside the virtual world!
android’s success formula:
sum(brands other than apple) > (apple brand)
and since cost(implementation) == 0
then possibility(world domination) ~= 1
same thing happened with windows. history repeating itself
This would be an interesting formula, if only it were correct.
In what world does cost == 0?
Don’t get me wrong, I just jumped from an iPhone to a Droid and want to see it (the phone AND the platform) succeed. But the assumption that there is no cost of implementation to turn out a solid device running Android as the platform is facile at best.
Yes, there’s potential for a repeat of the Apple – Windows model, but it is certainly not a given.
not sure i agree so much. I’ve got a dozen or so folks…+- 50% who are not technically sound at all switch from Iphone to Android. You see they started associating dropped calls and crappy service with Apple not necessarily just ATT. Additionally, when I showed them my phone they were genuinely surprized that there were features they could not do, period. The consensus is there is a genuine love for android’s flexibility. Something as simple as a desktop that is customizable does wonders for some folks.
@mercado, i wouldn’t be “totally” have a change of heart on that issue alone, but yes going to verizon website to get HTC droid Eris is a lucrative option, it should have been your 1st though and oh, au revoir to your old phone btw
How’s droid today? Hell, it was amazing! though a little beat off beat that than the phenomenal apple iphone 2g way back 2 years ago.
Collation of info about droid release today: http://bit.ly/d...uered-USA-today
Time to create our DROID APPS now
I don’t think I’ll be giving up my iphone just yet
Aren’t there about 10x as many Verizon Stores as Apple Stores?
Did you also know that apart from the US you have other countries?
The world’s full of them and most of them don’t host a single Verizon store but do host Apple Retailers. And iPhones aren’t only distributed by Apple Stores. I don’t think AT&T is an Apple Store…
This response is hilarious. Why should we care if Verizon isn’t in other countries when it is the #1 network in America?
Because when the droid goes worldwide, the US will only be a part of the pie.
So the comparison Aaron was making isn’t true since there are multiple times more Apple Stores and other iPhone distributing phone carriers worldwide than there are Verizon stores in the US.
“Aren’t there about 10x as many Verizon Stores as Apple Stores IN THE US?”
Would be ok, I suppose.
We’re talking about a US launch here; I was only pointing out that lines are shorter because there are more places to go.
iPhones also get sold at AT&T stores.
Agreed. Thinking back though to the iPhone 3g’s launch, the lines were significant at an ATT store I walked by (perhaps 30-40 people), but trivial compared to the nearby Apple store.
I feel that a more fair comparison would be to about double what ATT stores saw. The iPhone obviously still wins in initial popularity, but not be two orders of magnitude.
Given the lack of marketing this phone has received, it’s not that surprising. A few strange commercials that didn’t really show anything and the fact that it was mostly only covered on Tech blogs.
Maybe they didn’t want to empty the entire bank on advertising like those Pre people did.
Poor Jason, waking up at 5:30am for that…
Who cares if the lines were empty? It sounds like you all are complaining that there wasn’t a line to get a new phone. Who wants to wait in a line?
I’m tired of hearing all of this iPhone is better crap, stop comparing phones and give a review on whether the phone is good or not by itself and not compared to some other phone that might be better. I currently have a regular samsung flip phone that is used only as a phone. I’m looking for a review by real customers like me to see if this phone is good enough for me to buy. I don’t want to switch to AT&T’s crappy network, so this is the phone I’m looking at. Almost bought the Storm, glad I didn’t. So can someone give a real customer review, and stop comparing it to the iPhone. That got old real fast.
sadly this is the one and only post we’ve ever done on the Droid.
LOL. Your recent bend towards sarcasm has been quite amusing. It is curious that so many commenters don’t actually read the site (or know how to use the site’s search engine) and often don’t even read the article they are commenting on. Human nature though, I guess. Kudos for not taking it too seriously.
Sorry. that post wasn’t directed toward the main article. I’m just tired of reading every review on the net that constantly compares the Droid to the iPhone. If you like the iPhone, then buy it. I just want to know how good the Droid is by not comparing it to something that might be better. Didn’t have time to go look at one in the store today, might have to wait until Monday to get my own review of it. This might be my last post because I realise they are sounding more negative than I meant them to.
Don’t blame reviewers. Verizon invited direct comparisons against the iPhone with their iDon’t commercials. For years to come, the iPhone will be the standard by which all other smartphones will be judged. Get used to it.
The marketing has predominately been word of mouth on the Internet, and these people found out about ways to get it with the rebate’s discount already applied, or places that sell it for $150. Also notable is that Best Buy did preordering, and the ones that got a lot set up times to come in and get it instead of letting there be a flood.
Plenty of reasons for there to be no lines. I’d be very interested in overall sales today and the weekend, and to compare them to the month’s sales figures.