Verizon managed to push a 100,000 Droids during its launch weekend, I guess there is only so much advertisement can do.
Marketing is composed of 4 elements, the four P’s as we call them; Product, Price, Placement and Promotion. Together they compose the “marketing mix”. The idea is that if you want to successfully market a product you’re gonna have to make sure that all of these elements are taken care of. Let’s quickly see how they did;
The pricing is an exact copy of the iPhone’s, could be more aggressive but ok. The Placement was really good, they presented it like an iPhone robot killer that could do more and benefited from a better network then focused it on young connected people. Finally the promotion was indeed impressive and they managed a lot of buzz.
Well, all we have left to blame seems like is the product itself, it takes an Apple to make such a user experience and you can’t cover up the devices issues with TV spots…
Farewell Droid !
[via TheAppleBlog]
Wow, that’s quite a dismissal, considering that Droid is generally held to be a very worthy alternative to the iPhone. Sure, marketing wasn’t as effective as Verizon would have hoped (although, as someone who works in marketing, it wasn’t because of the campaign – it was great) but that doesn’t negate the fact that Droid is a great phone, and the best that Verizon has in their lineup right now. Also seems a bit premature, since it just came out. A lot of the hype from the iPhone came from who made it – Apple has a lot of marketing momentum. Give Droid time before bidding him goodbye.
Just bought my Droid and can’t stress enough how well it’s gone. I *will* go so far as to say this is an iPhone killer. Apple innovates but beyond that, they always drop the ball. Droid/Google will blow by them within 2 years. Bookmark this and email me in two years…
Mark my words: The (current) Droid will never kill the (current) iPhone if it costs more than Free.
It’s simple. A decent MP3 player costs at least $100-200. If you get an iPhone, you get what is today the defacto standard in MP3 players for FREE, and you get it with what is pretty much the defacto standard in smartphones starting at $100.
That’s literally $200-300 in savings over a Droid, and Droid users have been complaining it’s sub-par as a music player to begin with.
Unless you absolutely hate Apple/AT&T or you are a complete Google/Verizon fanboi, you’d have to be an idiot to buy a Droid.
Thankfully, most of us are not idiots…
If I didn’t read all of these tech blogs I wouldn’t even know what a droid is. Their marketing only benefited those whose knew the droid. I mean they had a commercial that focused too much on the idon’ts and didn’t really describe or even show the product. Then another with some planes dropping metal balls with a Hal looking device. I’m not surprised. I think sales will pick up a little if the show the public what a droid is. But I don’t suspect that it can kill the iPhone.
I think it’s too early to make a final judgement on the success of the Droid.
This chart is useful for deflating Verizon’s hubris about having an iPhone killer. But I’d like to see another chart showing Droid’s opening weekend with the latest Blackberry, Nokia, Windows Mobile, etc. phones for comparison. They did much better than the Pre, which is one of the most-hyped non-iPhone competitors (although Sprint is a small share of the market). If they did better than the competition (which I think this proves, the iPhone has no competition at the moment), then they should consider it a successful launch.
I mean, the Droid has everything to be an iPhone killer and still didn’t even come close. Maybe they should just focus on selling good phones and not worry so much about what Apple is doing, unless it’s making a CDMA-compatible iPhone, which is the only time in the foreseeable future that “Verizon sales” and “iPhone” will be used positively in the same sentence.
I think, too, that there was some element of marketing failure. Lots of people didn’t understand what the iDon’t commercial was selling. They just didn’t realize that Droid was a mobile phone. My brother was one of them.
Although I also agree that as a product it’s not an iPhone killer.
Why does everything have to be either an iPhone killer or a total failure? There is a very lucrative middle ground. It’s going to compete and it’s probably going to do well. I wish I could ship 100,000 units of something in one weekend.
It is way too early to predict a product failure. Also, I thought the original iPhone sales were closer to 500,000 opening weekend.
“How Surprising”
I’m done with this site. This isn’t what I come here for.
I think this is an opinion article, and though you don’t agree w/ the opinion I would love to see a comment explaining why you don’t agree. We value our readers, and wouldn’t like to see any of them leave, I believe Alexander was trying to spark a reaction with some readers and stir up some debate. We tend to think debate is good in our line of work.
Stay a while, tell us what YOU think!
Are you serious? Is this what you do @ work? When someone says something you disagree with in a meeting you grab your clipboard and run away?
I agree with you 100% and I was gonna say the same thing…. that title is completely biased and fanboyish to say the least… I come here to get NEWS not to hear how much the writers THINK the iPhone reigns supreme….
I am gone as well.
There is no problem with this site. If somethings here is not what you like, then go to a different site.
Shhhhh… we don’t want anyone going to a “different site”
Yeah, and the fact is that even though I would be VERY interested in the Droid (AT$T absolutely could not have less of a fan than myself, at this point), I am locked into a contract with them for a bit longer. Its simply not comparing apples to apples (pun intended) to dismiss the droid right now. I know folks who got it, and I think it is quite a good phone. And as the contracts expire for 3gs and 3gs iphone owners, it will be interesting to see which way they go. I’d be willing to drop the iphone for a (slightly) lesser device on a better network. And AT$T is too busy suing a better network to try and compete with them.
Wow. I think you are being a bit too dismissive. 100,000 units sold in a weekend is fairly impressive. I bought a Droid and threw my iPhone in the garbage, sick and tired of Apple’s nazi-like censorship of apps in their walled garden. Anyway, I think there is plenty of room in the mobile landscape for the iPhone, Android, and even the Palm Pre… and competition will make each mobile phone ecosystem better for it’s own legions of fanboys and fangirls
Sean….
WHERE IS YOUR GARBAGE! I need a backup. Was it a 2G 3G or 3GS?
I had a friend that went to get a droid, they wouldnt let him buy one, even though he is a verizon customer. He wasnt up for upgrade, but even offering to pay full price they would not let him activate one on his account. he would have to cancel his account and make a new one to get a droid they told him. meaning he would have to pay the early activation fee plus the fees to make a new account with them.
So opening weekend is now what determines success or failure? Nice “story” guys…
Yeah ive got to agree with a few others decrying your dismissive tone. numbers are hardly enough to bid the droid “farewell” let alone define the actual quality of the product. remember the motorola startac? yeah it sold 75 million units, a number thats still more than twice the number of iphones that have been sold. i like my iphone, but id ditch it in a second if the droid was available here in canada.
Isn’t that 1 million sales mark for the 21 countries that the iPhone released to? That kinda makes the graph you got there a bit stacked.
I also don’t think that you should discount the Droid. It’s pretty much the new kid in town, and people aren’t quite sure if it’s the next best thing yet. I have 4-5 co-workers that are thinking of getting the Droid, but they wanted to see mine first before they decided. And three of those are unsatisfied iPhone owners.
Regardless of figures, I am super happy with my Droid, and I would choose the Droid a million times over the iPhone (and I’m an iPhone developer amongst other job titles I have). And from what I’ve been seeing, everyone else that picked up the Droid is super happy with theirs too.
I’m throwing in a cheap shot here, but FoxNews supposedly has the highest ratings of all news networks. Does that make it the best?
The Iphone sales figures factor in all the units sold worldwide. The Droid is being sold on ONE carrier is ONE country. Go back, get the single sales figures for AT&T, then post your findings. The same goes for the Palm Pre, ONE & ONE.
Wow, when did this site turn so unbelievably negative? I come here looking for some interesting app news, which is what I am used to getting, but suddenly two of the last three posts have been merciless Verizon and Droid hate fests.
I have total buy-in to the Apple empire (Mac owner for 17 years, iPod for 6, iPhone for a year), but just because a competing product comes out doesn’t mean it is trash. The Droid is a good product. And AT&T’s coverage really is unbelievably terrible in major markets like New York City — 3G data there is literally unusable during the workday, requiring regular switch-over to Edge to get *any* kind of data service.
I don’t really know why there is a need to get so defensive over iPhone’s dominance. It is clearly number one in smartphone mindshare among the general public and the fastest growing phone in the country, probably destined to be what the Motorola Razr was a few years ago as far as ubiquity. But let’s be honest, it is not a perfect machine.
Competition will only make the iPhone better, and it’s more useful to accept the challenge than to lower yourself to this kind of homerism.
Well, you’ve now achieved at least one less subscriber to the twitter and RSS feeds…
Wah, wah, wah! Boo, hoo, hoo! What a bunch of whiners! Apple doesn’t allow me to watch porn on my iPhone! AT&T service sucks! Last I checked no one forced you to buy an iPhone? You act as if no other carrier has connection issues, well maybe not as bad as some, but just the same no service is perfect. Let’s be real here people, everyone is gunning for number one, Apple! It’d be the same if Android was in Apples position. If you’re going to walk the walk, you gotta talk the talk and be prepared to back it up! This is a business and all the hype in the world won’t help your bottom line it does not traslate in sales! And if your numbers are not big during the first week of sales, that’s usually a sign that it’s going to be a long holiday season! I’m not a fanboy, I just hate complainers! Pick a phone and a network that makes you happy and stop whining!
I would get a Droid today, if I didn’t have to get a data plan to go along with it. That is why I have an Ipod Touch, in this economy finding people willing to pony up another $360 a year for data plans that don’t already have them is gonna be tough. They have to beat up the other smartphones in Verizon’s stable or convert from other carriers to get their numbers.
Actually, the article may be snarky and quite condensed, but it tells the truth. The original iPhone launch was US only, the 3GS launch was 8 countries only (21 countries a week later), most of them (except for the UK) insignificant and we do not even know what they could have sold if there was enough supply (they were sold out three years in a row). Verizon is a bigger carrier than AT&T and the Droid sales figures were clearly less compared to all scenarios. Considerably less. Period.
Negative advertising has never worked. MS’s “laptop buyers” resulted in Mac laptop sales inflating (record sales actually) and Windows machines selling less with lower margins on top of that (you advertise “cheap”, you better be cheap)… great guerilla marketing done wrong.
Android is not bad at all, but it is not “open” for consumers. It is open for phone makers and network operators. Its media player capabilities are a decade behind the iPhone, the Android App Store equivalent is a mess and there is no multi-touch, flaky Exchange support and no local syncing (and a lot of people do not want “the cloud” yet). Further there is limited on-board memory and a 256 MB limit for applications… have your turn-by-turn offline app on the memory card? Better never swap it out, as it will not work any longer. Geek stuff, not consumer stuff = limited sales. No miracle.
I wish something would come around and compete….apple is to comfy to release iPhones full capability
You hit that puppy.
If someone came out with a phone that in my eyes that was at least equal to the iPhone with more UI freedom…I’d drop my iPhone like a hot potato.
Apple needs competition so they are forced to do the right thing and open up the platform.
Another thing to add, another analyst (Michael Cote) said that sales were actually 400k this past weekend…so not sure what the real sales number is.
But I say it again, I still love my Droid
What may I ask do you like about your Droid?
And how is it on customization and stuff like that.
Were you a previous iPhone user?
Let’s discuss!
Hi Xultar, do you work on this blog site or just an avid reader? I’m new here fyi.
I actually never got on the iPhone bandwagon, because I had a very bad experience with AT&T even before the iPhone was an idea in a marketing meeting in Apple. I have been a Verizon customer for many many years, since back when they were called Bell Atlantic Mobile (in NYC), and absolute love their service and didn’t want to give that up for another service that I hate, regardless of how awesome the iPhone was.
However, I do own an iPhone 3G. I bought it from my friend when she upgraded to the 3GS and that was right around the time I got my iPhone developer license. So there have definitely been times where I’ve been nothing but glued to my iPhone while testing, etc, and quite knowledgeable of the iPhone’s capabilities, especially from a developer’s standpoint.
Some of the main problems I had with the iPhone were the things that the Droid got right. First of all, the multitasking. That is definitely key, as I love having an IM client running, sometimes playing Pandora, while doing other things on the phone. I actually do like to upload actual music, but I really don’t like iTunes (I’ve owned 3 iPods before I switched to Zune/Zune HD).
The apps were actually not as important to me, though when I do, I would prefer to have the option to upload apps manually, especially for things that aren’t available (i.e. PDANet), and I didn’t want to do through the trouble of “jailbreaking” the phone just so I can use it the way I want to.
The main thing that drew me to the Droid, is the complete integration with Google’s products. Gmail. Google Calendar. Google Contacts. Google Voice. Native Google Chat. And now the new Google maps with free turn-by-turn GPS was sort of the icing on the cake (not completely necessary since I don’t drive that often). i know some people are not quite on “the cloud” yet, but I’m all for it. My last phone, which was WinMo, started to get me addicted with Google Sync. Yes, I know that the iPhone does that too, but getting that and a bag of chips on the Droid is pretty much like crack to me, it’s just totally awesome and completely suits my needs.
I also need a hardware keyboard. My last three phones (yup, three), all had full hardware qwerty keyboards, and I never got used to a virtual keyboard. I was always reduced to finger pecking. Another nice bonus is that with the keyboard, the SNES emulator on the Droid is actually quite playable. The virtual d-pad is just a complete joke.
But to bring up a point, is the Droid for everyone? I’d almost definitely say “no”. Would I recommend it to, say, my mom? It’s kinda like giving a Ferrari to her so she can go shopping at the grocery store. There’s definitely a slight learning curve, though very very shallow for a techie like myself. The iPhone still has that mass appeal, and is very easy to pick up.
I think another point to say is that the Droid is not just one phone, it’s one of many that are soon to come. And all of these phones coming out will have varying feature sets, from more affordable and more user-friendly to the more high-end super computing device. It’s the OS, dummies
I think the Droid is a great entry device, and looking forward to see what else is in store for us coming 2010.
There’s more and more of this fanboy nonsense in the reporting here. It lets down what is otherwise a pretty professional site and it’s making me doubt the quality of the other reporting and reviewing.
Android is pretty good operating system and it’s providing Apple with much needed competition that results in us getting a better phone at a beter price without too many of Apple’s restrictions.
This ‘Droid is a failure’ stuff is straight out of the playground.
So, you’re an iPhone owner who comes to an iPhone App review site to complain about an opinion piece that says the Droid sucks?
Seriously, I don’t get that man.
Are you sure you don’t work for Verizon or Google or Motorola? Just askin.
I’ve given my opinion of what I want to see in the best news site about the iPhone as I thought this was somewhat beneath it.
Please resist the urge to reply to every comment simply heaping on more fanboy silliness such as asking me if I work for Google, just because I don’t agree “the Droid sucks”.
I was very interested in hearing how the Droid did on it’s first days out of the box, but I have to agree with some of the other commenters that it could have been done in a more tactful manner – I expect better of AppAdvice.com
I think it’s (way) too late to disregard the Droid entirely. It hasn’t even here in Europe yet, has it? (Though I read that we aren’t getting Droid – they renamed it “Milestone” for some reason. But on the up side, the European version will have multitouch)
I hate bias posts, the Droid hasn’t even been out for a week yet, give it time.
It’s a blog. Just like newspapers they write editorials and opinion pieces.
I don’t always agree but I don’t stop going to the Washington Post or the New York Times.
News and Opinion about the iPhone, iPhone Apps, and everything else in that orbit.
Did someone push me through a Stargate?
Alright, I’m trying to figure out why this upset so many people. There are a few things going on here I think. We are an iPhone based review site, so there has to be some expectation that many of our writers are going to be biased toward Apple’s device.
I think Alexander was putting out this “opinion” based piece to spark some debate in the comments. We value our readers opinions, so instead of crying foul and saying we suck, you guys should tell us your thoughts on the topic. We tend to read every comment and either respond, or use them to drive research and new articles.
Regardless, no matter how great a new product is, we love the iPhone, it’s why we started this site
@Nic
And I’m surprised that you’re surprised, but maybe that’s part of the problem. I don’t think anyone has a big issue with someone giving opinions at all, it’s just the fanboy-ish tone that is a big turnoff to a lot of people. It gives off an amateurish and immature vibe. It also (at least for me) raises the question of whether or not the motivation behind the articles are purely page views. There’s a fine line between enthusiasm and fanboy-ism, and it’s one of those things that is hard to define, but “you’ll know it when you read it.” I’m new here, but I’ve just read 2 articles by Alexander and both gave me that feeling. (the Verizon vs AT&T article was also just plain factually incorrect)
To a lesser extent, I also think it’s part of a bigger smartphone “culture” (for lack of a better word) that often portrays iPhone users as snobs who are highly defensive (and childish) about their device. Some of that image is overblown to be sure, but it’s articles like this that tend to fuel that fire. I read a fair number of gadget blogs (Precentral, TiPB, Phandroid, etc) and I never run into this type of garbage by any of the editors on those sites. Take all that for what it’s worth, but I think it’s clear that I’m not the only one who feels this way.
I take it that you don’t watch Fox News. I kid. I kid.
But seriously folks, I don’t get what’s going on. I’ve owned cell phones since the AT&T bag phones came out back in the day. And guess what…
People have always given their opinion on whether or not they find devices to hot or not.
AppAdvice doesn’t sell iPhones. They love their iPhones. Their writers have opinions and can write about them just like the other gazillion people on the web. Now if they were selling iPhones and dissing Droids then I’d have a problem with that. But they don’t sell iPhones, or Blackberries, or Nokias. They aren’t making money off the downfall or the upswing of Droid, iPhone, or any other devices.
Apple doesn’t pay people to promote their products. They do pretty well with that all on their own. But you gotta realize that this site is about iPhones and people who love their iPhones and want to talk about everything iPhone.
Tons of other blogs have been talking about the Droids limitations as it directly relates to iPhone. And you know what. Those other sites are iPhone centric.
I’m not an Apple fan, but I love my dang iPhone. It isn’t perfect but to me it is the best thing since sliced bread. You may disagree with that. But to say I’m biased for Apple because I love my iPhone is a stretch. And to insinuate that I do Apple’s bidding because I kiss my iPhone is more than a stretch.
You guys are blowing this way out of proportion. It is an opinion. An editorial. Agree or disagree. Discuss. That is what it is all about.
For the record, I’m looking forward to the droid’s maturing, and can’t wait to get my hands on one to play around with
To address some of your points above, Alexander is one of many of our writers, and I think (but don’t quote me) if I remember correctly many of his articles have been critical of Apple, just happens to be a good week to bag on the Droid
I’m also no fanboy by any stretch of the imagination, I’m constantly irritated that I am required to jailbreak and violate my terms of service to get my phone to do anything useful. All other smartphones I’ve used, or owned, such as my Q9m, my Q, and my Tilt, as well as the G1 and Droid are basically open platforms that let you customize, tweak, or develop anyway you want. I’m still hoping Apple jumps on board some day.
That being said, I think Alexander did good with this SHORT article to stir up some controversy and discussion, I mean look here, you took the time to respond right? So it got attention. At the end of the day there is a fine line between useful information and things to get page hits. Like I stated above, this article may contain little or no useful information, but the comments have been great, and have grabbed a lot of attention. We are not a “gadget” blog, we review Apple related news and products, there is a specific focus with our site. If we were supposed to be a non-biased technology blog then you wouldn’t see any opinion articles, only product releases, demos, and pre-published news. We’re not.. the headline of this article is a clear indication that it was going to be biased and is very opinionated, you were enticed enough to even read on. I think Alexander did his job, and I still look forward to hearing more opinions about the subject, and less about the site as a whole being a failure, when we clearly have interesting, new, and useful content.
Nic, totally agree – there’s nothing wrong with having an opinion and using it to stir a discussion. (as long as it’s an adult conversation that doesn’t degenerate into name calling, etc) My point remains the tone of the article. I think you can make a provocative post to generate discussion without sounding snarky or taking cheap shots. This article to me came across as snarky and condescending. I’ll leave it at that, thanks for listening.
Let’s be honest, this was a news article, pure and simple, which you’re trying to reposition as an “opinion piece” to justify what annoyed people about it. I just see news – first sales figures for the Droid – delivered badly.
If something is an opinion piece, it shouldn’t deliver a piece of ‘new’ news and be written in 5 minutes like a news post. It should be a humorous and/or thought-provoking round-up of recent news and clearly labeled as opinion. The length and quality of the column alone should distinguish it from a simple news post. Do you think this is a good example of an ‘opinion piece’?
@Chris
No, I would not call this an opinion piece. This felt like a news piece sprinkled with snide, fanboy attitude. After reading it, it felt like he wanted a straight news blurb, but then couldn’t resist the opportunity to take some cheap shots.
This is a “news” article huh? How is it a new’s article and not an opinion piece when you call the Droid a “Failure” (you words, not mine) within the first few days of release? Try to sugar coat it and have all your buddy editors on this site to back you up as much as you like, you wrote words that you can not retract and now you have the nerve to call this a technical news article ending with the most fanboy comment ever (don’t try to patronize us by saying you aren’t a fanboy) saying “Farwell Droid!” What unbiased point could you possibly be making with that comment?
Great article Alexander!
You only wrote pretty much three paragraphs, and you got over 30 comments.
I have to agree that the Droid didn’t live up to the marketing expectations. The entire ad campaign was targeted for launch, as all ads were pre-launch, and the only info about the droid that was given was the launch date. They still couldn’t get good launch sales even compared to the original iPhone that was only sold in one country.
Long term it’s too early to tell how the Droid will perform, but launch was a relative failure. The best advertisement is word of mouth, and when less people have the phone than was intended that has to hurt.
The smart phone market is flash in the pan, and you need to strike it while the iron is hot. The next big thing is already on the horizon. Droid needs to sell now before its based up by the latest iPhone competition.
The article is relevant to AppAdvice because the droid ad campaign decided to attack the iPhone rather than just highlighting what it can do. The Droid will be connected to the iPhone like the Palm-Pre (whoops).
Please have discussion on the current post, and not comments on the entire site in general. If you like the Droid, please say why, and tell other people (word of mouth). If you have a Droid also you may want to look for Android AppAdvice.
Dude, why are you comparing iPhone 3GS that was sold over in 20 countries with Droid that was sold only in US?
Say iPhone sold 1Mil in 20 countries that would be 50,000/country on the avearage. And Droid sold 100,000 in US alone…Now they are saying that it was sold 400,000 in US alone…
If you want to make a fair comparison, compare iPhone 3GS sales with Droid sales in US alone…
Alex, I hope your listening to all these comments. Negative news is a NO GO. We all love the iPhone that’s why were here. But no one wants to read articles bashing other companies or products just because. I do appreciate the news about the droid sales, but please keep it neutral. That’s what I love so much about this site: neutral news from and iPhone users perspective. Don’t mess this up for all of us.
I am reading this and man the main poster is a real fanboy of the iPhone he almost sounds a little bitter but as a Droid owner who has used a iPhone I agree its not an iPhone killer just as the xbox360 wasn’t a PS3 killer. Its a valid rival, I like my Droid more then I like my old iPhone and will not be returning my Droid because besides the phone, I believe the coverage Verizon offers is superior. All in all I think that they are fairly equally matched phones. I would like to see more apps for the android 2.0 OS but then again I can change my OS if I desired and the android 2.0 is not as old and mature as its Apple competitor. At this time I enjoy my new phone and believe I made the right choice for me but the Droid is most certainly not dead.
I’m just happy there’s a valid competitor. Maybe Apple will step up their game now and stop being so stingy with functionality of their devices.
I love my Droid Eris over the fruit phone for several reasons but one is the most important. Verizon network is superior as mentioned by Brycen earlier! Just can’t bring myself to say the fruit phone’s name. LOL I’m very satisfied with my purchase and glad I waited before buying another piece of fruit. Seriously I think the Eris is actually a better option at its price for those who don’t need Droids slider keyboard.
Yes, snarky headlines are a good way to stir controversy, but as Marv08 notes, negativity isn’t the way to popularity. It’s true for the Droid, and it’s true for this site. You can afford to take the high road, just like Apple does. Leave the snarkiness to the high school newspaper crowd.
Apple? Taking the high road? Need I remind you of a little ad campaign they’ve been running for the past few years, called “Mac vs PC”? Not to mention that said campaign has been reduced to nothing more than different ways of saying “Windows 7 sucks”.
Pot, I’d like you to meet Kettle.
Wow, this is the polar opposite of what I have been hearing from almost every other outlet. Huh. Who pays for this website again?
I swear verizon must have told all its people to go to every post they could find to promote the droid. Now I wonder why. Is it that big a piece of sh_t?
I just bought a Droid over an iPhone, partially because of the network, partially because the Droid ships with a 16gb microSD card and removeable battery, two things the iPhone doesnt have.
Whereas the iPhone set the pace for the modern smartphone market, i believe that the Droid might very pick up where Apple is leaving off, with uncensored app markets, multitasking, and overall a much more complete experience.
Whereas it might not be as user friendly as the iPhone, future updates of Android (incidentally, the iPhone didn’t upgrade for free from 3g to 3gS) that are released for free to any google phone user will see to UI tweaks and problems.
The end result? I am infinitely happier with my Droid than i would have been with an iPhone!
The marketing might not have been perfect, but soon word-of-mouth will create something else that was implied by the droid ads: viral marketing.
The droid has terrible 1x voice reception, gets good 3g, but voice reception and quality is terrible. I was on AT&T and dropped my account and switched to verizon and the droid, big mistake. My wife and I could not get past the poor voice quality and signal strength, so we ended up going back to AT&T and got Iphones.
Not to mention because of verizons crappy cdma network you can’t do voice and data at the same time(exception is wifi). If you listen to pandora radio for example you will not receive calls, they will go directly to voice mail, and if you are on a call you can’t look something up on line or get a new email etc. With the droid you are only as good as what’s in the cache.