If you happened to be scanning the boob tube this weekend, especially during the football games, you no doubt saw the teaser for the new Droid phone, which is the result of Verizon and Google’s unholy alliance.
Taking square aim at Apple, the spot features a style of hipster pop that the Cupertino giant is known for using, copy that points out what the iPhone can’t do (open development, widgets, 5 megapixel camera) with the lowercase “i” slyly infused, along with a little bit of disruption and technical difficulties at the end ala some end-of-days narrative.
Though you never actually see the Droid, which releases in November, the ad has already roused the audience. YouTube commenters like ihatemadrid say: “First, I think it’s a shame that instead of advertising what’s good about their product, they are advertising what’s bad about their [counterpart].” Reporters, though, seem to have been taken by the ad. PC World’s Harry McCracken calls it “entertainingly combative” and “pretty effective” though he does point out that “no other phone is going to catch up with the iPhone’s software catalog anytime soon.”
According to DailyFinance scribe Sam Gustin, who declares Verizon’s gambit “is nothing if not bold,” Google’s move to set the template for open mobile software platforms will create more competition for Apple.
Charlene Li, a founding partner at Altimeter Group, a Silicon Valley-based tech consultancy, tells DailyFinance, “The biggest threat to Apple is that the market is opening up to Palm and Android…What happens when you have that rich diversity in the space is that it’s no longer Apple versus Google, it’s Apple versus everybody.” Let the games begin.
More: “There’s a Map for That”