[November 06, 2009]

Droid draws devoted few: Verizon's new Droid smartphone greeted by smaller crowds in South Florida as it goes on sale

Nov 06, 2009 (Sun Sentinel - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The Droid has landed but if the meager lines that formed early Friday outside some Verizon Wireless stores in South Florida are telling -- the invasion by the newest smartphone could be off to a slow start.

Nine people lined up before 7 a.m. Friday outside a Verizon store in Pembroke Pines to get first dibs on the new Motorola Inc. smartphone, which went on sale nationwide today.

This scene repeated itself at Verizon stores in Fort Lauderdale and Wellington .

The Droid is available nationwide exclusively through Verizon Wireless stores or its website for $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate and a new two-year contract.

"It's the newest, next best smartphone since the iPhone," said Jeff Kagan, an Atlanta-based telecom analyst. "But will it blow the doors off like Apple's iPhone? That's yet to be seen," Kagan said.

In recent weeks tech message boards and blogs have lit up with chatter and mostly positive reviews in anticipation of its arrival. Some experts have said the Droid is the first serious competitor to popular smartphones like the iPhone and BlackBerry.

Smartphones like the Droid offer users enhanced capabilities to surf the Internet, send e-mails, run programs and access multimedia content such as videos and games.

"I really like the specifications...its slide-out keyboard and touch screen," said Joshua Goldberg, 17, who arrived at 5:30 a.m. and was first in-line at the Verizon store in Pembroke Pines.

"The iPhone didn't have one [slide-out keyboard] and that's a major thing...the Android 2.0 [software] is really neat too," said Goldberg, an iPhone user up until Monday when he switched to Verizon in anticipation of the Droid.

The Droid is the first smartphone to run on Google Inc.'s open source Android 2.0 operating system and to offer its free Google Maps Navigation program with spoken turn-by-turn directions.

To get the most out of the smartphone, customers will have to subscribe to a nationwide voice plan and e-mail and web smartphone plan, Verizon said. The voice service plans start at $40 a month and the e-mail/web plan at $30 monthly.

"Verizon needs this [Droid] to help pump up sales," Kagan said.

The same goes for Motorola and its mobile handset division, which has foundered in recent years and hasn't had a big hit since the Razr, which debuted in 2004.

Verizon has mounted an aggressive marketing campaign to launch the Droid, a campaign said to be the largest in company history. The droiddoes.com website takes unapologetic jabs at the iPhone with slogans like " iDon't customize", "iDon't have a real keyboard" and "iDon't run widgets" to highlight some of the key differences between the devices.

While not disavowing the iPhone's cult-like hold in the smartphone world, Verizon is clearly sounding the alarm that there's a worthy contender in town for those looking for a hi-tech device.

For Verizon, the Droid is "bringing back sexy" to its mobile phone portfolio.

"Verizon has had a tired lineup although it works, but it's been hurting and not growing as quickly as AT &T has with the iPhone," Kagan said.

To boost its holiday offerings, Verizon also launched a lower-priced Android-based phone Friday -- HTC's Droid ERIS, which retails for $99 after $100 mail-in rebate and new two-year contract.

Not all Droid fans were up to braving the lines Friday.

"I'll probably wait until next week," said Michael Sias, 32, of Coconut Creek. "I don't think they'll run out of phones." "The design is really neat, and it's got an incredible processor," Sias said Thursday on the eve of the phone's sale.

Despite Friday's slow start, over time Verizon's Droid could well end up weaning customers away from the competition or winning new fans like Ray Pagan, 51, of Pembroke Pines.

"The Apple [iPhone] was the big innovation, but this is going to open a lot of other doors," Pagan said. "I'm totally stoked!" Arlene Satchell can be reached at asatchell@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4209.

To see more of the Sun Sentinel or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sun-sentinel.com/. Copyright (c) 2009, Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

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