Motorola Droid estimated to have sold 100,000 in first weekend
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.
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.
Comments
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.
That's not to say I'm actually uninterested in said information, but this is not what I come here for.
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!
The Droid is for geeks, not ordinary people.
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!!!!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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....
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.