So word on the street is that Motorola’s and Verizon’s team effort, titled Droid, is the new “iPhone killer.”
Really? We haven’t stopped calling every new phone the iPhone killer yet? Here’s a hint: if reviewers and columnists are still describing your product as it compares to the competition, it’s not going to kill anything.
Did everyone call the iPhone a Palm killer? Or a WinMo killer? No, because they were too busy drooling over the iPhone. Referring to a new phone as an iPhone killer suggests to me that the new phone is simply a copy of the iPhone that attempts to do a few things slightly better, rather than a completely new phone that changes the way we use phones. Reading up on Droid, I have confirmed this. Touch screen phone with big screen, close to the same form factor as an iPhone, but—wait for it—with a slide out keyboard. Yeah, no one has ever tried that before.
Haven’t we all figured out yet that a plastic keyboard is something that only geeks and other people who have gotten used to plastic keyboards like? If the on-screen keyboard were a problem for Apple, it would have been evident by now. New users of smartphones a) don’t use the keyboard that much and b) can’t type on plastic thumboards any better. At least the on-screen iPhone keyboard doesn’t take up space, and can change to adapt to your needs. (Switching layouts to other languages, removing keys I’m not likely to need based on context, etc.) Seriously, folks, the keyboard controversy is over. And the other killer feature: it’s on Verizon. Verizon, the most popular network, despite usually having the crappiest phones. Well, that is interesting, at least. We’ll get to see how many professed AT&T haters dump their iPhones, as they have said they would. My guess is not too many. People don’t want to give up their sizable investment in apps. Or the integration with iTunes. We’ll also get to see if Verizon’s network gets bogged down with Droid traffic. And whether or not certain apps get blocked by Google at the behest of Verizon. And whether or not certain features get crippled by the carrier.
There are plenty of current Verizon customers, disgruntled T-Mobile Sidekick customers, and so on, to make the Droid a wild success, whatever happens with the iPhone. Which is good for competition. Which is good for everyone. It’s even good for Apple. So let’s drop the iPhone Killer moniker, and just call Droid what it is: a really good option on Verizon, and the first good Android phone. That should be enough for good headlines.
