It completely floors me that reviewers never seem to see this one iPhone failing which is the reason I could never own one:

With the iPhone, you have to use quicktime, itunes, a proprietory cable. You cannot drag and drop folders of music to and from your phone.

I detest all of that (and I own two mac computers of my own). I like being able to plug in to a generic USB, on ANY computer anywhere, and just add or remove or copy music to and from the device as much as I want, no interference from a freak controlling Apple.

If I could do that basic file exchanging, I would proably overlook the lack of memory expansion and get one… alas.

Mark.

The Droid is not a game changer. The game was changed 3 years ago by Apple and the Droid is Verizon’s first entry into Apple’s game. Droid is the first ever Verizon phone with a modern Web browser, which is an iPhone innovation from 2007. It’s catch-up for Verizon.

Droid is available to the 0.01% of the world’s population that has proprietary Verizon cell service, while iPhone is available to over 50% of the world’s population. The idea that Droid could change Apple’s game is frankly ludicrous.

Calling Droid a “game changer” or “iPhone killer” doesn’t help Droid. The name is licensed from Lucasarts and the first ad is only understandable if you read tech blogs. If 10% of Verizon’s customers buy a Droid that will be massive success but it won’t be a patch on what’s happened with the iPhone, which had a much more successful adoption over the first 3 years than both the iPod and the DOS PC.

Motorola Droid will face some stiff competition:

But this time around may be a little different for Motorola. Would Motorola’s phone end up being the dumb shell in a smart universe? That is, Motorola makes the hardware (albeit with some social networking apps); Google makes the Android operating system; while the phone is plastered with the Verizon Droid brand. Here is where the confusion sets in. Because the Motorola device is the first to sport (no pun intended!) Verizon’s Droid logo, Motorola’s faithful and other consumers will think that Droid is synonymous with Motorola. But as other companies such as HTC, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and others also release Droid phones on Verizon’s network, Motorola is going to find itself buried under a barrage of equally strong competing brands – all using the same Droid name. Can Motorola withstand the manufacturing juggernaut that HTC will unleash with their hundred flavors of Droid smart phones? If you follow the discussions on the Internet, most references to phones incorporating the Google Android operating system (which Verizon brands as Droid) are about the hardware specifications of the devices, and not the operating system. So the key question is – what key competitive advantage does Motorola have to fight all those equally adept competitors who will all incorporate Android into their phones or use the Verizon branded Droid name on their devises? If the argument is hardware design, that is a weak argument. Motorola may soon find itself in a crowded market.

Where is the intellectual property?

Apple, RIM, and Palm all have their hardware, operating system, and software ecosystems. And they own the intellectual property rights to critical technologies in their smart phones. They can present a coherent, consistent, and well branded marketing campaign. But the companies competing in the Android marketplace all have to compete on fancy hardware design, which as we have learned in the PC marketplace is hard to do. Look at Sony; they are successful with the PlayStation 3 because they own the hardware and gaming operating systems software. But in the Windows marketplace, because Sony does not own the Windows operating system, they have to use fancy hardware designs to distinguish themselves, which is a hard job to do. Motorola is fighting a similar battle in the smart phone arena. Motorola’s new phone does not present us with any intellectual property, patents, or special product branding to distinguish itself in the marketplace. Motorola not owning the Android operating system (or even the Droid name) is akin to a publishing business not owning its contents. And in publishing, as the adage goes, the content is king!

Now there’s a lofty goal. Especially for Motorola, which some time back, in reaction to the iPhone, said they wanted their business to be “predictably boring.”

That’s a step up there, Moto.

But as I learned long ago, Motorola interfaces are torture to use, so this must be a deal-breaker for them to have Android to play with. Good luck. Force Apple to improve the iPhone faster. I’m betting that’s the Droid’s main contribution to smart phones.

I agree that Droid is a game changer – not just for Motorola and hardware, but for the App Phone market in general. See my post at: http://thebalanceact.wordpress.....appphones/