Motorola Droid vs. Apple’s iPhone
There has been a lot of hype around the Motorola Droid (release date October 30th, yay!), which I think is well-deserved. A lot of people, myself included, have been waiting for an Android phone on Verizon’s network since HTC came out with the G1 on T-Mobile. But with all the hype has come the inevitable comparison of the Droid and the iPhone.
I can only speak for myself here, but really, the comparisons are a waste of time. I’m surrounded by Apple supporters who continually attempt to convince me of the merits of the iPhone versus other phones. What most seem to not understand is that it doesn’t matter. The iPhone can win on the fronts of aesthetics, user experience, hardware performance, application availability, whatever – it is still a closed device backed by anti-competitive Apple on a pretty poor AT&T network. So save your arguments, I don’t care which phone you believe to be better because of whichever features you choose to flaunt. The fact is that my buying another phone is not a loss of a sale for Apple, because I was never an Apple customer to start with.
The same goes for the Droid advertisements, too. They don’t do anything for me. I want the Droid to deliver functionality that I want, and it doesn’t matter how it relates to the iPhone, because I don’t care about the iPhone. Instead of showcasing the many features that the Droid will have that are lacking in the iPhone, I want an ad that says “It is a great phone with substance, it is on the excellent Verizon network, it runs the open Android mobile OS, and it is produced by the proven mobile handset manufacturer Motorola.” We all know the iPhone exists and that it is the phone the Droid will be compared against – but why stoke the fires? Let the Droid speak for itself as the best option for those who aren’t interested in the iPhone.
There are lots of reasons to consider the Droid. Insisting it is better than the iPhone isn’t one of them.
