Motorola Droid estimated to have sold 100,000 in first weekend

[AppleInsider]

Motorola's new Android-based Droid, which launched on Verizon Wireless last Friday and aims to take on Apple's iPhone, is estimated by one analyst to have sold about 100,000 units in its first weekend.

As reported by Bloomberg, analyst Mark McKechnie with Broadpoint AmTech said Verizon had about 200,000 Droids on-hand for sale at launch, and most stores surveyed sold at least half of their stock. With more phones based on the Google Android mobile operating system releasing this quarter, Motorola is predicted to sell 1 million to end 2009, and 10 million in 2010.

"I see the first few days as encouraging," McKechnie said. "There seems to be pretty good demand -- they've taken the right steps and picked a good partner with Google on the Android side."

Additionally, analyst Jim Suva with Citigroup believes Motorola will sell 1.3 million Android phones in the fourth quarter and 9 million in 2010. Compare that with Apple's projected sales of 8 million iPhones for the quarter and 28.5 million next year.

Analyst Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray is even more bullish, predicting sales of 9.2 million iPhones in the December quarter, and 36 million in 2010.

This summer, the iPhone 3GS sold over a million phones in its first three days of sale. That strong debut well exceeded its predecessors. In 2007, it took 74 days for the first-generation iPhone to reach that milestone. And in 2007, the iPhone 3G also sold 1 million in its first three days, but in 21 countries. The iPhone 3GS launched in eight nations.

Still, the Droid and other Android-based phones are predicted to have a positive effect for Motorola, which has struggled as of late. According to Gartner, Motorola's share of the cell phone market was 5.6 percent in the second quarter of 2009, down from 10 percent a year prior, Bloomberg reported.

The launch of the Droid has been accompanied by a marketing push by Verizon that, according to one study, has had a negative impact on the perception of AT&T in the target 18- to 34-year-old age demographic. Verizon's aggressive advertisements have led to a lawsuit from AT&T.

[hill60]

That's good news for Motorola they really needed this boost to lift them out of the slump they are in.

[revs]

Great news! We need Android to get better and better and give some real competition to Apple - then we all win when Apple release an even better iPhone!

[Quadra 610]

Seen it before.

http://www.intomobile.com/2009/06/08...at-100000.html

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/...id=OTC-RSS-FW0

Same numbers.

A slow start for Droid, pretty anticlimactic, and what's worse, fairly unknown by the general public. And it's no competition for the iPhone, that's for sure.

The Droid's (and Android's) only real hope is long-term growth and a steady decline or levelling off in iPhone popularity. Unfortunately (for some), the latter doesn't seem to be happening (quite the opposite), and what's more, Apple seems to like its iPhone enough to keep up development (and advertise it effectively), which is bad news for everyone else.

Good for Motorola, though. Unfortunately their hardware is a far cry from sleek or elegant.

[pmz]

Exactly how much more publicity does AI intend to give this product? Just wondering. As a reader, I'm really, exceptionally, extremely, NOT interested in information about this product unless it relates directly to the iPhone.

That's not to say I'm actually uninterested in said information, but this is not what I come here for.

[iphonedeveloperthailand]

100,000 compared to 1,000,000 units sold on the first weekend. How is this going to kill the iPhone?

[AsianBob]

Originally Posted by Quadra 610

Seen it before.

http://www.intomobile.com/2009/06/08...at-100000.html

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/...id=OTC-RSS-FW0

Same numbers.

A slow start for Droid, pretty anticlimactic, and what's worse, fairly unknown by the general public. And it's no competition for the iPhone, that's for sure.

The Droid's (and Android's) only real hope is long-term growth and a steady decline or levelling off in iPhone popularity. Unfortunately (for some), the latter doesn't seem to be happening (quite the opposite), and what's more, Apple seems to like its iPhone enough to keep up development (and advertise it effectively), which is bad news for everyone else.

Good for Motorola, though. Unfortunately their hardware is a far cry from sleek or elegant.

The difference with the Pre is that the Droid is on Verizon, the largest carrier in the US. And that the Droid is released with 12,000 apps backing it, whereas the Pre had none and a bad SDK (from what I've heard) released afterwards, thus its drop in sustained growth later.

The Storm was just a buggy device out of the gates (I know; had mine since February), which required a bit more tinkering than normal people wanted to do. And like the Pre, it didn't have the apps to back it at release. However, BlackBerry is a well-established community and is stepping up its game consistantly ever since the Storm came out. It sucks that it took them until now to get an OpenGL ES, Theme Builder, Payment, and Localization API (there are others), but better late than never...

You opinion on the Droid's success has been duly noted. But Android as a platform is only going to accelerate after the Droid. The "Big Five" phone manufacturers have already started dabbling with Adroid for their new models. The integrated voice search/navigation feature (game changing innovation, in my opinion) is already being asked for by iPhone owners.

Remember, the iPhone was released across multiple countries and those sales were counted in the 1 million. The Droid only in the US during its release weekend. Verizon has a trend to be able to sell a steady stream of devices after their release, right up to when the second model comes around.

Unknown? Hardly. Plenty of internet articles on the Droid and plenty of commercials on TV putting out the Droid name. The "iDon't" and "Stealth" teaser commercials generated tons of buzz about what Droid was. Buying air time during the World Series guarantees the reach to millions of viewers. And now that it's released, Verizon's running a commercial where they show off the Droid itself and its features. If anything, the fact that Apple fanboys fired back with their own creations of the "iDont' commercials on YouTube (tons of hits for that video alone) and creation of some anti-Droid/Android sites showns that people know it's out there.

But in the end, it just generates competition for Apple to up their offerings, which in turn forces the rest to up theirs again. All in all, success for us!

[ivan.rnn01]

AT&T reported somewhat below 300'000 activations of 3G[S] in the US over the first weekend. DROID is surely not a killer, but shows comparable results.

[Jon T]

This will be the best it gets. Why?

The Droid is for geeks, not ordinary people.

[zindako]

I think I'll stick to my iPhone, since its launch every other smart phone maker has been trying to copy it down to the last detail, I think its sad really.

[rick15jk]

here is the post


Droid Not really worth the wait!


The phone is a good Phone. But the 256MB is not that great!. My other verizon phones get better 3G service as well,



only have 2 bars compared to my other one at 5 Bars. Internet very Slow. Maybe it's a bad Phone.



I will monitor it for a week and take it back under 30 days... Not worth the Hype!!!!

[digitalclips]

Originally Posted by zindako

I think I'll stick to my iPhone, since its launch every other smart phone maker has been trying to copy it down to the last detail, I think its sad really.

That is the history of Apple. They are the R&D department for the rest, hardware and software.

[AsianBob]

Originally Posted by pmz

Exactly how much more publicity does AI intend to give this product? Just wondering. As a reader, I'm really, exceptionally, extremely, NOT interested in information about this product unless it relates directly to the iPhone.

That's not to say I'm actually uninterested in said information, but this is not what I come here for.

True. But if you ignore the competition, that's equally as bad.

[Hattig]

Originally Posted by Quadra 610

Seen it before.

http://www.intomobile.com/2009/06/08...at-100000.html

Same numbers.

At least Droid will be sold in multiple countries around the world, unlike the Pre which took many many months to be sold outside of the US.

And it's one of dozens of phones built around Android, which has matured well now it is version 2 of the software.

Make no mistake, the iPhone is still far and away the king of AppPhones, but competition from Android will force Apple to up their game, which will benefit everyone.

However Droid is nice hardware - the screen especially looks good, as does built-in turn-by-turn mapping. Shame that it doesn't integrate the flash memory but instead relies on cards, haven't they learned yet that people don't care, just like with removable batteries? Motorola seem obsessed with hardware keyboards, yet every review has slated the hardware keyboard and said to use the excellent on-screen keyboard that Android provides instead.

In a year's time Android will have taken a sizeable portion of the market, hopefully pushing the anaemic and useless Windows Mobile 6.5 down another position.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by revs

Great news! We need Android to get better and better and give some real competition to Apple - then we all win when Apple release an even better iPhone!

Second that- flash camera here we go!

[anantksundaram]

Originally Posted by iphonedeveloperthailand

100,000 compared to 1,000,000 units sold on the first weekend. How is this going to kill the iPhone?

Where did you get the 1 million figure? I had thought that the number for the first weekend for the iPhone was 270,000? (I could be wrong about that, but that's what I recall).

Still a handy outperformance, though....

[DKWalsh4]

Originally Posted by iphonedeveloperthailand

100,000 compared to 1,000,000 units sold on the first weekend. How is this going to kill the iPhone?

You're comparing 1st generation Android numbers to the latest generation of iPhone numbers. Like the article said, it took 74 days for the original iPhone to reach 1 million.

[Quadra 610]

Originally Posted by Hattig

In a year's time Android will have taken a sizeable portion of the market, hopefully pushing the anaemic and useless Windows Mobile 6.5 down another position.

This we can agree on!

[AsianBob]

Originally Posted by Hattig

In a year's time Android will have taken a sizeable portion of the market, hopefully pushing the anaemic and useless Windows Mobile 6.5 down another position.

I believe it's going to be:

1. Symbian OS
2/3. Android and iPhone OS
4. BlackBerry OS
5. WinMo OS

The iPhone and Android will be close enough in marketshare that they'll swap positions multiple times as time moves on.

[AllenKids]

Originally Posted by DKWalsh4

You're comparing 1st generation Android numbers to the latest generation of iPhone numbers. Like the article said, it took 74 days for the original iPhone to reach 1 million.

He is comparing a 2009 June iPhone to a 2009 November Droid.

Which is pretty fair. Moto can go back two and a half years and sell the Droid then and I would be impressed.

[GQB]

Originally Posted by teckstud

Second that- flash camera here we go!

And good-bye battery life.
For now, phone cameras are snapshot cameras.
I'll worry about flash when there is a proper camera 'snap-on' through the dock connector with its own quality lens(s), battery and flash.

[GQB]

Originally Posted by AsianBob

I believe it's going to be:

1. Symbian OS
2/3. Android and iPhone OS
4. BlackBerry OS
5. WinMo OS

The iPhone and Android will be close enough in marketshare that they'll swap positions multiple times as time moves on.

This extrapolation of past numbers for Symbian into future dominance cracks me up.

[webpoet73]

I don't know about the Droid because I left Verizon to join my fiancee on Sprint... I ended up choosing an Android-based phone. I like it but it is no iPhone (based on my experience with the iPod touch) but it is a good OS. Unfortunately, it's still running version 1.5 of Android and the topics of discussion around the Android forums is if/when this newly released phone will get OS 2.0... and it had better get it.

I think that Android will definitely surpass WinMo but Android still feels like a "geek" device but that's okay, I am enjoying doing lots of home screen customizations. But having to replace many of the built-in apps with better apps from the Market is disappointing.

But after a few hours of downloading some apps, I am very satisfied with the device. Just keeping my hopes up that version 2.0 will come to my phone....

[anonymouse]

Originally Posted by AsianBob

I believe it's going to be:

1. Symbian OS
2/3. Android and iPhone OS
4. BlackBerry OS
5. WinMo OS

The iPhone and Android will be close enough in marketshare that they'll swap positions multiple times as time moves on.

I don't think the iPhone and Android will be that close in a year's time, perhaps in 2, and Blackberry will probably still be ahead of Android. So, I would put it like this in a year, assuming Windows Mobile shows up at all:

1. Symbian OS
2. iPhone OS
3. BlackBerry OS
4. Android OS
[big gap]
5. WebOS
6. WinMo OS
7. Other

In another year, it may look more like what you are predicting except that both WebOS and WinMo will be missing from the stats, or just lumped into Other.

[dlcmh]

Originally Posted by rick15jk

here is the post

Droid Not really worth the wait!

The phone is a good Phone. But the 256MB is not that great!. My other verizon phones get better 3G service as well,

only have 2 bars compared to my other one at 5 Bars. Internet very Slow. Maybe it's a bad Phone.

I will monitor it for a week and take it back under 30 days... Not worth the Hype!!!!

Link: http://forums.verizon.com/t5/Android...ait/m-p/113102

But that poster only has a 1-post history.

[anonymouse]

Originally Posted by GQB

This extrapolation of past numbers for Symbian into future dominance cracks me up.

Probably in about 2-3 years it won't be, but in the immediate future it is likely to remain so. It's presently leading by more than double the marketshare and that lead isn't going to disappear overnight.

EDIT: So, in 3 years, it may look like this:

1/2. Android and iPhone OS
3. BlackBerry OS
4. Symbian OS
5. Other

[ivan.rnn01]

It was found long before DROID is out how to make flexible and highly configurable system useable by non-technical crowd.
People create a number of pre-defined configurations for various needs and tastes, others just use those presets.
DROID should just make it easier to load presets...

[John.B]

Analyst Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray is even more bullish, predicting sales of 9.2 million iPhones in the December quarter, and 36 million in 2010.

Really, how many Linux geeks are there? The Droid actually has a lot going for it, but Teh Sexy isn't one of them.

I'll eat my hat if Munster turns out to have even been close. As others have pointed out, this guy makes a living on making wild predictions that turn out to be wildly off the mark. Why does he continue to get this kind of press?

[anonymouse]

Originally Posted by John.B

Really, how many Linux geeks are there? The Droid actually has a lot going for it, but Teh Sexy isn't one of them.

I'll eat my hat if Munster turns out to have even been close. As others have pointed out, this guy makes a living on making wild predictions that turn out to be wildly off the mark. Why does he continue to get this kind of press?

Uhm, the prediction you quoted was about iPhones, not Droids.

[Aizmov]

I was hoping the Droid be more of a success, Motorola needs it. It'd be sad if Motorola went bye bye but they are to blame for their own failure.

Strong competition will make it hard for any player to monopolize the market, and will motivate all players to bring in their best. We all win!

[melgross]

Originally Posted by pmz

Exactly how much more publicity does AI intend to give this product? Just wondering. As a reader, I'm really, exceptionally, extremely, NOT interested in information about this product unless it relates directly to the iPhone.

That's not to say I'm actually uninterested in said information, but this is not what I come here for.

A lot of us are interested, as this will have impact on Apple's own product sales and upgrades.

They can't just talk about Apple products without having some base upon which to compare them to.

You can tell the interest by the number of posts on a topic. More than 50 shows interest. More than 100 shows a lot of interest, and much more than that shows overwhelming interest.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by iphonedeveloperthailand

100,000 compared to 1,000,000 units sold on the first weekend. How is this going to kill the iPhone?

It's not just the impact of one phone. It's the impact of the cumulative effect of all the Android phones sold.

This phone seems to be the best Android phone out there, so it shows what a good phone based on the new ver 2.0 of the OS can do.

If Moto sells 4 million Droids in a year, and there are another 20 Android phones out there, with an average number of one million sold, that's 24 million Android phones sold in a year. A pretty good number, even if none approached the iPhone in total.

[starnyc]

DROID is just another handset. They should have taken the AVIS route and advertised it as "we're #2" and "we try harder" going up against the Blackberry and other smartphones rather than taking on the iPhone, because they created expectations with their advertising that the user experience simply cannot match. In battling unrealistically for #1 they are not carving out their own niche - hard to use geek phone that runs our of batteries quickly.

this is a geek phone limited to 256MB of application storage memory with NO HOPE of expansion in site, because android does not allow apps to be stored on the removable memory cards.

any real geek is going to get the 32GB iPhone 3GS and jailbreak it.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by ivan.rnn01

It was found long before DROID is out how to make flexible and highly configurable system useable by non-technical crowd.
People create a number of pre-defined configurations for various needs and tastes, others just use those presets.
DROID should just make it easier to load presets...

I predict that various phone makers and even cell carriers will take Android and split off their branch from the Google branch, leading to a number of incompatible Android based systems in a few years. We're beginning to see it already.

This is going to result in what happened to Unix when mini computer, mainframe and workstation makers moved from their propriety OS's to Unix. At first, all that was talked about was software portability.

But what actually happened was that manufacturers began to differentiate their models with specific features. After a while, the various Unix OS's became about as proprietary as the ones they abandoned years before.

The same thing has happened to the various Linux distros. You can't easily run programs running KDE on a GNOME distro and visa versa. Then there are the dozens of other distros. And yes, I know these programs can be compiled to run, but thats not the point, is it? They still need work after that.

I can see companies revving Android to add features that they think will give them an advantage, that others can't, or won't be able to use. GUI differences will pile up so that programs written for one won't work on another etc.

It will be a mess.

[ivan.rnn01]

Originally Posted by melgross

I predict that various phone makers and even cell carriers will take Android and split off their branch from the Google branch, leading to a number of incompatible Android based systems in a few years. We're beginning to see it already.

This is going to result in what happened to Unix when mini computer, mainframe and workstation makers moved from their propriety OS's to Unix. At first, all that was talked about was software portability.

But what actually happened was that manufacturers began to differentiate their models with specific features. After a while, the various Unix OS's became about as proprietary as the ones they abandoned years before.

The same thing has happened to the various Linux distros. You can't easily run programs running KDE on a GNOME distro and visa versa. Then there are the dozens of other distros. And yes, I know these programs can be compiled to run, but thats not the point, is it? They still need work after that.

I can see companies revving Android to add features that they think will give them an advantage, that others can't, or won't be able to use. GUI differences will pile up so that programs written for one won't work on another etc.

It will be a mess.

You may be right, but there's no such a requirement for phones to be strictly compatible. Even desktop computers can live without compatibility. Their OSes conform to certain set of criteria and that's enough.

[anantksundaram]

Originally Posted by AllenKids

He is comparing a 2009 June iPhone to a 2009 November Droid.

Which is pretty fair. Moto can go back two and a half years and sell the Droid then and I would be impressed.

Hmmm... upon further reflection, that is a valid point.

[Rhetoric.assassin]

Originally Posted by teckstud

Second that- flash camera here we go!

as a pro photographer, I see this as a moot point... if you want blown out, unusable information in a photo, that has terrible white balance, horrible vignetting, and the same blue-ish look....then yea a crappy camera flash is fOR you teckstud....

otherwise available light is what is best, this is probably the reason apple has not included one yet, in fact I am positive, since apple is all about proper implementation of technology. Hence the crappy dual flash on the droid and other camera phones. Hmm, the photos (which is an insult to photographers, more like snapshots) all look the same which should come as no surprise to anyone who uses a camera.

[TenoBell]

Desktop OS are stable platforms. There are different platforms to choose from. The equivalent of what Mel is saying would be HP, Dell, and Acer all using a slightly different version of Windows designed for their own computers and are incompatible with each others machines.

The reality is that Windows is a stable platform. Mel is saying that Android will likely not end up with the same type of stability and in the long run fracture the entire platform.

Originally Posted by ivan.rnn01

You may be right, but there's no such a requirement for phones to be strictly compatible. Even desktop computers can live without compatibility. Their OSes conform to certain set of criteria and that's enough.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by ivan.rnn01

You may be right, but there's no such a requirement for phones to be strictly compatible. Even desktop computers can live without compatibility. Their OSes conform to certain set of criteria and that's enough.

Correct.

But then, will those phones really BE Android phones if they're incompatible?

Just like Linux. There is no such thing as a Linux OS, it's just a kernel.

With Android, it's a real OS, but if it can get differentiated enough, then what we'll see is Android BASED OS's.

In that case, can we really talk about Android vs Apple's iPhone OS? Or about RIM's OS, or Symbian, or Meamo. Or whatever?

There won't be 'AN" Android OS any longer, but a number of different, incompatible ones.

We'll need to talk about Motorola's OS, and HTC's OS, etc.

[rain]

Originally Posted by pmz

Exactly how much more publicity does AI intend to give this product? Just wondering. As a reader, I'm really, exceptionally, extremely, NOT interested in information about this product unless it relates directly to the iPhone.

That's not to say I'm actually uninterested in said information, but this is not what I come here for.

Man, I don't know what country or conditions you live in... but in Canada we aren't forced at gun point to read every article on a website. I'm pretty sure it's the same way in the US and, well, pretty much anywhere i can think of.

Sorry to hear you absolutely must read every article on a website.