You’ve got to admire the way Verizon is attacking Apple’s iPhone and it’s lousy AT&T coverage. They’re not going to take it like Microsoft…
Despite a lawsuit from AT&T over the red and blue maps, they’ve come right back with this ad that calls the iPhone a “Misfit Toy” – a reference to the place where broken and mis-shapen toy go from the Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer story.
It’s easy to see that the rumours of Verizon reaching a deal with Apple to carry a version of the iPhone never came to fruition and that, with Verizon going full steam ahead with the Google Android-powered ‘Droid phone, they no longer need to keep the kid gloves on and are attacking the iPhone for all it’s worth.
Reviewers of the ‘Droid phone have said that it’s the closest thing to a competitor to the iPhone so far. While it may not be better than the iPhone, it’s better in some areas and a close second in others. On they average, they’re calling it a toss-up and have named it, not an iPhone killer, but the iPhone’s equal.
With Verizon’s massive coverage and huge customer base, it’s hard to not see ‘Driod eventually being as big a success as the iPhone, if Verizon doesn’t screw it up.
How could Verizon screw that up? Well, their reputation for locking down every aspect of their phones and nickle-and-dimeing their subscribers to death for every little thing, Verizon could do it, if they stick to their traditional marketing.
But the Google Android software the ‘Droid phone runs on is supposed to be open and it may not be possible for Verizon to keep it from being tweaked by users. Eventually, they’re going to have to compete against the low-priced all-in-one unlimited service packages being offered by some of their competitors too.
