Motorola's Droid Launch Impresses
NEW YORK (
) -- If
Motorola
(MOT)
had a make or break moment, this might be it.
The
future of Motorola's phone business rides on the Droid
, Motorola's
, powered by
Google's
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Android software and sold exclusively by
Verizon
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(VZ) - Get Verizon Communications Inc. Report
, the nation's largest wireless player.
Motorola and Verizon introduced the Droid
Wednesday at a New York City press conference. The initial takeaway: Ladies and gentlemen, we may have a winner.
The
phone is amazingly thin for a device with a slide-out keyboard. It is a half-inch thick, with a metal top and a brilliant 3.7-inch touch screen. In the hand, the
feels hefty, and it's sliding keyboard mechanism is sturdy.
The Droid smartphone. |
Verizon will sell the
starting Nov. 6 for $199 with a two-year contract.
For Verizon, the
is likely to be the best and strongest alternative to
AT&T's
Apple
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iPhone.
In keeping with Verizon's new
openness initiative, the
-- at least in its early release -- won't have the carrier's proprietary VCast and VZ Navigator services. Verizon has opted to let users determine their own music and video services.
Motorola has had some big turning points along its winding wireless path. And many of those moments have been moves in the wrong direction. After a big success with the Razr phone, Motorola
failed for years to find any new models
to continue the streak. Sales dived, layoffs ensued and billionaire activist Carl Icahn forced out former CEO Ed Zander and pushed for a breakup of the company.
Now, after a year at the helm, Motorola wireless chief Sanjay Jah gets to see if his strategy to toss out Microsoft software and build a new line of phones around Google's Android operating system will work.
"We wanted to be in the game," Jah said at the
launch.
As for further plans, Jah said Motorola will introduce more than 20 smartphones in 2010, with most running on the Android operating system.
--
Written by Scott Moritz in New York
.
