Verizon's ad spending: $100 per Droid?

jus to say it verizon does suck i live in a town where there is verizon stores and no AT&T re tailer stores and verizon service here sucks i have the droid and the iphone 3G the droid dnt get gud 3G out where i live and my iphone dnt have 3G bt it keeps up with the droid with the 3G pages load up bout the same time i get more bars with AT&T than i do with verizon everywhere i go my verizon droid is the first one to lose service i went to north dakota to visit family and i didnt have service with verizon at all but with AT&T i only lost service once for bout 2 mins and i had bars again believe me i was bored so i was on the internet most the way there so i would knw when i had service and wen i didnt idk i hate verizon there service sucks they add things on your bill with out you knwin and u get charged an arm n a leg i like AT&T i always use my iphone no matter what if i had to choose a shity droid over an iphone i wud choose the iphone i dnt knw y all u AT&T haterz have to talk so much shit about a better company yeah AT&T dont have the much 3G bt its funny how verizon does and my edge on my iphone loads up the same pages bout the same speed so move on guys its jus a phone just be happy your phone works i cant wait till the new iphone 4G goes to AT&T cuz verizon how to go n fuk up on sayn the droid is the iphone killer and trying to make AT&T service looking bad by comparing it to a company that is just money hungry i cant wait to c what u guys put after the new iphone goes to AT&T thanks to verizon for talking shit bout apple and AT&T and that i now dont have to pay to end my contract with verizon thats contract is 350$ to terminate wen AT&T is 175$ ima just sell my droid to someone that just wants the iphone but cant have it cuz they dont wanna addmit that AT&T is better and when AT&T makes there service bette hopefully in a couple a years we are going to see who is laughing then

My Husband is in love with the droid.. He is one of those Computer Science people, and he loves the fact that he can program things for the droid phone more freely is a major perk for him. it has more versatility than the I phone. It also seems that some people love the Iphone and some people have had nothing but trouble.. my main problem with the iphone is the provider.. Though some people are big on ATT and others are Big on Verizon.. It seems that the quality of service and coverage varies greatly from place to place. I used to work for ATT and I personally will never have a contract with ATT. It was a pretty eye opening experience for me to see things both in and out. I am sure that some of this is true for Verizon, but it does seem to vary from place to place.. In my area.. I stand by Verizon. My Husband on the other hand stands by the Droid.

Not necessarily (your $100/unit ad spend). Manufacturers routinely kick into marketing co-op funds wireless carriers use to fund adverts. So, don't do simple math on this one.

As an industry insider, my bet is that VzW will launch an iPhone in 2H10 just as AT&T will launch Droids. The market is becoming more competitive than ever and the strategy is to have a broad equipment portfolio of FeaturePhones and SmartPhones.

Ahmen finally somebody knowes what they're talking about

Like Gary from Philadelphia I was with Verizon for 5 1/2 years and absolutely hated the customer service, which at the time was ranked very high in the cell phone community. I wonder which metric they were using to achieve that ranking? I had a Kyocera 2235 that crapped out every 5~6 months because of a bad power supply and over the course of 2 years I lost all of my contacts 4 times because they couldn't physically power up the phone to transfer my old contacts to my new phone (they kept giving me the same model), which was a HUGE inconvenience! When my 2-year prison sentence was up I almost switched carriers, but the Samsung a650 caught my eye. Every 6~9 months that phone's power light that took up half the hinge space on the phone's right-hand side would break or pop out causing the entire right-hand side hinge to fail causing the screen portion of the phone to simply fall out! That phone was replaced 3 times. After the third replacement my family was on AT & T's family plan and I reluctantly left Verizon to join their AT & T family plan, but not before letting them (Verizon) know why (bad customer service and poor phone reliability). I dropped more calls in the first week with AT & T than I did with Verizon in 5 1/2 years. Unfortunately, I have stayed with AT & T for 2 years now and we are eligible for a phone upgrade, which means new iPhone, which is wonderful, but 2 more years with the crappiest network I've ever experienced. I want an Apple iPhone more than any other electronic device I have ever seen, but to sign on again for 2 more years of crap just to get one of the best phones ever…I won't make that concession.

I had Verizon for about 10 years. They lost me over Customer Service. I wanted to upgrade to a BB Storm and my wife to a BB Curve. They were ok with me upgrading, but were going to charge me full price for upgrading my wife 2 months early. So I switched to ATT and the iPhone. From what I've seen of the Droid, it looks ok, but bulky.

I had AT&T in the past and am currently on Verizon. The improvement in service and network availablity is so noticeable with Verizon. I think AT&T is spending too much on debt from all their acquisitions over the last 5 yrs whereas Verizon has put their money into their infrastructure. Thus providing more coverage and better quality.

I've been thinking of getting the new Droid which would require switching to Verizon from At&T but with the possibility of Verizon getting the iPhone next year, I just may wait for it and switch then.

@ Steve

"Also, why is it that the original iPhone (2 years ago) still outsold the Droid by a factor of 3:1? There were no previous iPhones to upgrade from and the release was in the US initially."

That's an easy one, because there were a ton of iPod users that didn't want to carry around two devices.

@ Lord Vader

"Droid looks like a nice phone. but doesn't come close to the total package of the iPhone."

What a bunch of BS. What total package is it lacking?

The only issue with this article is that the math that is used $100 per sale is flawed since that is only factoring the first 100K Droids sold at launch. So if they went on to sell 1M, it'd be $10 per phone sold. . .not that Motorola/VZ will move that many phones.

The larger issue at hand here really is the pressure that not having iPhone put on Verizon. . .Droid looks like a nice phone. but doesn't come close to the total package of the iPhone. Verizon can only attack AT&T, but even that falls flat because in major metros the 3G coverage is actually quite similar.

The bottom line is that VZ better hope that they can get in the iPhone game but as a poster already said that window won't open to at least Summer 2010 if not later. . .

ex ped: I don't know, Lord Varder. According to my calculator, $100 million divided by 1 million phones comes out to $100 per phone.

The network coverage is relative. If you live in the former Bell Atlantic and GTE regions you probably get better coverage with Verizon. And if you live in the former Ameritech, Bellsouth, Southwestern Bell,Pacific Bell and Nevada Bell regions, your coverage would be better with AT&T.

@manny Los Angeles:

Why do you speak about things you clearly don't understand? Why do you make excuses and try to explain away Apple's successes rather than actually taking a fair look at the circumstances?

For example, you claim comparing Droid to iPhone 3GS is silly. Well, yes, I agree because the Droid isn't in the same league, but that's a different story. You try to explain the weak sales of the Droid by suggesting they are just upgrades. Well, here's the problem with you logic. Droid customers could very well upgrade from G1 users too. Also, why is it that the original iPhone (2 years ago) still outsold the Droid by a factor of 3:1? There were no previous iPhones to upgrade from and the release was in the US initially.

As to your comments about Apple's prices, what's disgusting are the dopes like you that don't understand the difference between price and value. You generally get what you pay for. Companies who don't price their products accordingly don't stay in business for long. Apple's market has been steadily growing. You make claims that your $400 PC laptop "annihilates" your friends $3000 MacBook Pro. To that, I say "prove it". Anyone can go around making ridiculous claims like you have. Unfortunately, you just come off looking stupid because you'd have to be stupid to believe such nonsense.

Shouldn't one be comparing VZ's ad spending to AT&T's, not Apple (or did Apple become a carrier, too, last week)?

that's why Apple wins – they don't overpromise.
Posted By jbelkin, danville ca: November 11, 2009 1:24 PM

Hilarious. I quote from the first iPhones released, 'Not mobile internet, the whole FULL internet'

Of course the first time someone went to Youtube they realized they had nothing even remotely resembling the 'whole full internet' on their handsets; thus why they pulled that phrase from their advertising.

Second, comparing Droid to iPhone 3gs is silly. iPhone has a fairly dedicated customer base at this point so I'm going to venture a 'wild' guess that many of those million in sales (which were worldwide numbers BTW, the Droid numbers are US only) are people tossing their old iPhone and upgrading. Which still means sales, but it doesn't necessarily mean and ever expanding market share.

I just don't understand how the Mac Fanbois can defend a company that continues to HOSE them on the price of their hardware. (MacBooks and Desktops are GROSSLY over-priced, it's really disgusting)
They make their things look pretty, no doubt, but Apple is LOADS of style, precious little substance. The $400 PC laptop I bought at Best Buy that annihilates my friends $3000 MacBook Pro on performance all day is proof of this.

@Scott in DC, you wrote, "Apple can only get away with such restrictive practices in the US. A number of foreign countries have competition laws which prevent a carrier from pulling an apple and restricting their handsets to one carrier. Also a reason why I am not interested in buying an iphone."

Uhm, Verizon uses a different cell technology than AT&T. No country forces a mfr to make a completely different phone. Yes, it would be a completely different phone, with a different set of radios and antennae. That's why it would have to be certified again by the FCC. If you knew your history, you'd know why Apple had to give AT&T an exclusive. They were new to the cell business 3 years ago, and had to offer the exclusive in order to get the carrier to one, carry their phone, two, to add network features like visual voicemail, and three, allow for at-home activation. Do you know how difficult it is for new companies to break into the cell business? Have you seen how hard it is for Nokia, the world's largest manufacturer to sell their phones on AT&T, Verizon and Sprint? Did you see how Palm couldn't even get any US carrier to carry its Palm Pro when it first came out? I'm talking the Pro, not the Pre, btw. It's not the manufacturers that are putting up the roadblocks but the networks. If you want to complain, complain to Verizon for using CDMA, and not the world standard, GSM, like the iPhone.

You wonder about people who draw conclusions based upon mythical information.

As for Scott's comment about using the net and calls at the same time, that's the only type of multitasking that is worth talking about. Clearly, you've never done it, so have no knowledge of its usefulness.

Just to add to jbelkin's comment, the only cellphone ad where the SCREEN IMAGES are NOT SIMULATED are iPhone ads. Every other cellphone ad, whether Palm Pre, Blackberry, or Android uses simulated screen images, why is that?

@Gilmoure, Apple spent $500M on advertising this last year, a tiny fraction of sales, compared to companies it competes with. While Verizon is spending $100 per Droid, Apple spent that $500M on 20M iPhones, 50M iPods, 10M Macs, or about $6 per device. I'd say they got more bang for their buck.

What's amusing is that Verizon declined the iPhone originally because Apple wanted such a huge cut of the money made from the subscriptions. Now that people are starting to believe that the phone would work better on Verizon, it'll give them more leverage in not getting hosed by Apple when the time comes. Nicely played.

Verizon support of the Droid will ultimately allow it get what it really wants– the iPhone. The greater the reception the Droid receives the more likely Apple will make an agreement with Verizon to stall its adoption. I suspect that the leaks regarding the iPhone coming to Verizon have been deliberately leaked by Apple to slow adoption of the Droid until the iPhone is available. I have some service issues with ATT and wanted to make the switch to the Verizon. I spent the last few days evaluating the Droid for that purpose. I decided not to switch. My decision came down to some apps that I can't live without like NeuroMobile and others and the rumor that the iPhone will be available with Verizon soon. So Apples deliberate leaks helped (in part) to keep me as a customer.

There's been bad blood between AT&T and Verizon going back a long time, probably even further back than when AT&T got back into the last mile calling business for which Bell Atlantic rubbed AT&T's nose in poop by getting into Long Distance and lowering rates to burn AT&T's ass. In wireless Verizon is hurt more than Sprint from their defections because they have a net loss by AT&T cherry picking profitable Metro areas(familiar tactic). It's not about phones, it's about customers in a shrinking postpaid market. Verizon doesn't have the resources (warchest) it once had to burn AT&T this time because they laid tens of billions on FIOS.. and Vodafone isn't daddy warbucks of wireless anymore– so, what else to do but whine, moan, and fight dirty… even if the weapons are mud cakes, because lowering prices is abhorant to this company!

The game had changed in the mobile business after iphone is introduced. VZ will promote iphone more than ever if they can get their hand on the iphone. BTW, is there an app store on the Droid?

ex ped: Yes, it's called the Android Market.

I'm not a VZ, or an ATT customer, but I am cdma regional carrier customer. I am because of the network and only the network, a Phone isn't real handy if it doesn't work for you(att's case.) I'll be an iphone customer someday when A- the phone is improved and B- there is world type(GSM) service available in "my area." Zero bars is a nonstarter period, and VZ service is roaming off the local services towers. Waiting in MO

I don't know if the Droid is a failure for Verizon, but it appears to be a failure for Motorola. It looks like investors are dumping their stock as share price continues to drop. I think that might be a good indicator that the Droid is not selling well at all.

Not even comparing the Droid to the iPhone because they're not even in the same league. The iPhone is built by one of the finest companies in the world. The Droid is built by a company that lacks any design competence, business acumen and is run by crooks. There is really no future for a product sold by such a horribly run company.

The Motorola Droid is likely to have an even shorter time in the sun than the Palm Pre. Good luck with Verizon trying to sell a million Motorola Droids by year's end. How about 500,000 or less.

Wasn't it reported a week or two ago that Apple has spent $500M on advertising this year?

Yes.

For iPhones.

For iPods.

For Macintosh computers.

For everything else the make.

COMBINED.

In terms of a quasi-PDA, the iphone is great. Now try using it as a phone, the call quality is shocking. My 10 year old Nokia sounds better. Some of us still use phones to make calls, amazing I know.

Customer service wise: Verizon beats AT&T.
Network wise: Verizon is rock solid. AT&T beats verizon in non-congested 3G areas but once you hit GSM, it's quite average.
Handset wise: AT&T beats verizon. Value for money: AT&T beats verizon.

Apple can only get away with such restrictive practices in the US. A number of foreign countries have competition laws which prevent a carrier from pulling an apple and restricting their handsets to one carrier. Also a reason why I am not interested in buying an iphone.

@Tim Nash, what type of network do you think 3G is? WCDMA. How many people makes calls and use the net anyway? HSDPA vs Rev A, rev A is not only more responsive (quicker to connect) but it also has a lower lag and requires less reconnecting.

The $100Million figure does not seem like a big deal to me. Verizon has been running "better network" ads for years. They have an ongoing ad budget to support their over-all service and sales goals. They happen to be pitching the Droid now, but the main message is "better network". The advertising campaign is NOT dedicated to the Droid, and selling each Droid.

One thing is while competitors are quick to call Apple hype – bottom line – Apple's "hype" consists of a guy in a turtleneck, andads that straightforward EXPLAIN and SHOW features. THat's ALL the iPhone ads. Here's our phone – here's what it does. It's not dropped by a stealth fighter, it's not Whoopi's new phone nor will it make you go clubbing – it's just a phone – look at it, here's what it does. If you like it – buy it. The Verizon transformer ads are hilariously inept. The Product VP got sold a bill of goods from ad agency that wanted to make a transformers movie ad for $5 million – boy will people be disappointed it's just a phone that's not even as capable as an iphone … that's why Apple wins – they don't overpromise. Irony for a company other accuse of hype when the bottom line is style AND substance beats wild un-related CG ads.

Wasn't it reported a week or two ago that Apple has spent $500M on advertising this year?

I've seen the 'Droid commercial once last week (thought it was something to do with "V" tv show at first) but yeah, several Mac and iPhone commercials last week.

And yeah, I pulled one of my phones from Verizon so I could get the iPhone but my wife's kept our locked down Verizon flip phone for now. If there was a way to get the iPhone on Verizon's network, without their nickle-dime charges, I'd go for it in a heart beat. We don't even have cell phone coverage for iPhone at the house, but Verizon shows 3 bars. Go figure.

Unless Apple chooses to develop a world phone which covers CDMA (Verizon) as well GSM networks (AT&T) the iPhone won't appear on Verizon until their LTE network is widely available. Another design issue is that Verizon's CDMA network doesn't allow voice and data download at the same time. While customers want the iPhone on Verizon, they want the iPhone to work as it does on AT&T but on a better network. More detailed thoughts on this in http://lowendmac.com/nash/09tn/no-verizon-iphone.html

Droid isn't a world phone and with the restricted amount of memory for apps not even an iPhone competitor. It may however help finish off Palm.

Since when is verizon "hemoraging subscribers to ATT".

These stories and yes I used the word stories on purpose are the most factually incorrect, horribly written apple propoganda on the web….

ex ped: The words you're looking for, Mike, are "hemorrhaging" and "propaganda." Meanwhile, here's AppleInsider from Oct. 26, reporting on Verizon and AT&T's Q3 reports:

In its earnings reported Monday morning, Verizon said it now has an estimated total of 89 million subscribers, after adding 1.2 million customers during the September quarter. Last week, AT&T announced it added 2 million wireless subscribers during the same period, bringing its total base of customers to 81.6 million.

AT&T's 2 million customer increase was the highest third-quarter gain in company history. Officials said nearly 40 percent of the 3.2 million new iPhone activations were customers new to AT&T. That means of the 2 million new customers, roughly 1.28 million were iPhone users.

To put the total in perspective, more new customers came to AT&T for the iPhone than the total number of new subscribers gained by Verizon with all handsets during the September quarter.

Saw the Droid ad, watched it and looked at my wife and said if a soda or phone pops out I'm done. And sure enough a phone pops out. How original I sighed and turned the channel as I was bored.

Verizon was first approached by Apple, but Verizon declined because Apple didn't want them to have control over the device, mainly so they don't disable features as they like to do with all their phones.

Verizon is eating crow, so they are on the attack because they are losing a ton of business over their decision.

As far as the AT&T network goes, I live in the California desert and I don't have any problems with drop calls or poor reception. The only time I have a problem is when I call someone on the Verizon network. My wifes company phone is through Verizon and she has to go into the master bedroom closet to talk because that's the only place it works at home. She usually uses my iPhone because it works every where.

All these other phones are wannabe's plan and simple and they will not do well or last for that matter. Yes they will have apps, but they are missing a key component, iTunes. The U.S. largest retailer for music and content that can be accessed from any where on the phone. And what is the number 1 MP3 player? the iPod and what is an iPhone? an iPod with a phone. Done deal.

Nothing, will make me move to another phone that does not have this ecosystem of ease of use and content provided, period. You will find most if not the majority of users (not the techies) want ease of use rather than the alternative as it shows in Apple's sales numbers.

I've had Verizon going on 4 years in April and have not had any problems. Shoot, my whole family has Verizon. I will say the phone offers aren't that great, but the coverage is excellent! AT & T has the better phones, but their coverage is horrible where I live. Why would I want to get service from a provider when the coverage sucks?

Verizon did the samething to me when I cancelled my contract with them. I recieved many phone calls from them. They kept on saying " our records indicate that you have cancelled your contract with us. What was the reason for you to cancel?" I said, "I am getting the iphone." That was it, no more phone calls. The best part of leaving verizon was that I never had to pay the cancellation fee of $145. They have subpar phones, and outragous plans. I am saving $45 with at&t, and I have a phone that I am truly happy with

Just switched my iphone for a droid. While the iphone runs a more polished operating system, I'm very happy with the droid as a device. The best thing however is the network. I've experienced numerous dropped calls in NYC with AT&T (at least 2 per day)and inconsistent 3G coverage. As for Verizon's performance (since Friday) it has been flawless.

@Ted

"People keep comparing this to the latest iphone launch "ONE MILLION IN ONE WEEKEND!""

OK. Try this one… The iPhone opened up to other carriers in the UK. On the first day Orange sold 30,000 units. This is for a phone that has been out for 5 months already.

To spell this out – Apple sold 1/3 of this figure in one day on another carrier even though it has already been available for a serious chunk of time.

Well, we know who gonna see $100M less in advertising this year, Blackberry. RIP, RIMM.

PED- Great theory. I definitely think you hit it on the head. VZ is using the Droid to help support its $100M marketing campaign, not the reverse. Unlike the traditional strategy of targeting potential new customers in a effort to persuade them to buy your products/services, Verizon appears to flip the model around, and is targeting its own customers in effort to dissuade them from buying AT&T's products/services. Verizon is saying you'll probably love the iPhone, but don't be fooled because you will hate the network and will be sorry. And VZ throws the Droid in there as a consolation.

Looks with all these new holiday ads, VZ is giving more airtime to the iPhone than to the Droid. That could portend a Verizon iPhone in the not too distant future, but it also is smart marketing. It's very unlikely VZ would achieve meaningful success by concentrating on attacking the iPhone and promoting another handset as superior. Given the iPhone's lead in satisfaction and all the favorable word of mouth by those highly satisfied users, very few are going to believe a marketing message claiming to be an iPhone killer.

Though they continue to dog AT&T and the iPhone. I did have the iPhone (at one point) and AT&T. My coverage and service was great. I also live in the DC metro area so 3G coverage wasn't a problem.

The real problem was the CONTROL that Apple and AT&T had over EVERYTHING about the phone. That truly annoyed me. Not being able to do simple tasks, not being able to install software like Google Voice and SlingPlayer for no valid reason other than control. Think about it, Google Voice isn't a true VOIP client, so it still uses carrier minutes. How does that hurt AT&T or iPhone? Slingplayer is available on Windows Mobile devices which AT&T sells plenty of (or used to sell plenty of). The iPhone 3G data package is more expensive than other data plans for other phones. Another thing, no insurance (Asurion) warranty/product service for lost/stolen/damaged phones was offered to iPhone users but every other phone on AT&T can get it. I didn't like the discrimination. I could go on an on. I'm Information Technology Manager, a geek at heart. I loved the iPhone and how it changed the smartphone market. But it's getting old quickly. For one, EVERYONE has an iPhone now. It's no longer an exclusive gadget. Hell every old person at my job has one now.

I then imported a HTC Touch HD (huge disappointed, WinMo needs to retire), then the Palm Pre, great phone, great 3G with Sprint, but lacking apps. Doomed to be a niche OS (WebOS that is). Now I'm with the Motorola Droid on Verizon's network.

Verizon's problem…they NICKEL AND DIME you to death. They're over priced and they charge for everything. Bringing your phone out of standby is cause for them to charge you. But their service is good. The Droid is by far the best Android phone to date. I've tried the Sprint HTC Hero (which wasn't bad, just lacked a physical keyboard) and the HORRIBLE MyTouch 3G which was slow as dirt, froze up constantly, and was on a network/carrier not worthy of being in business (T-Mobile).

I think it was silly for Verizon to bash the iPhone if they planned on getting it. They should stick to the bashing of AT&T's network though it really boils down to coverage in your specific area not so much everywhere (unless you're some sort of jet setter).

I just wish everyone would stop trying to be the iPhone killer and focus on surpassing Apple's iPhone by becoming even MORE innovative. If I wanted iTunes and iPhone I would have stuck with it, some of us don't like proprietary lockdowns of equipment we purchased.

People keep comparing this to the latest iphone launch "ONE MILLION IN ONE WEEKEND!"

How many country's did the iphone launch in simultaneously, like 7?? While the droid launched only in the US.

$100 in advertising per phone? Egad! When this hits the market on Thursday, Verizon may plummet.

I'd have to agree with David Emery and Jones about Verizon's business practices. I've been using Verizon for about 4 years. After my contract expired, I was bombarded with phone calls, text messages (which I had to PAY to turn off!) and email trying to get me to buy a new phone and sign a contract. I rather expected that. What I didn't expect nor appreciate was that they kept calling even after I asked not to be called. Finally, I told a rep that every call I got would double the likelihood that I'd switch carriers–and that it was already at over 50%. She did the math, I guess, as I haven't been called since.

If Verizon had its way, it would probably cripple the iPhone. They even crippled my el cheapo Samsung flip-phone–it didn't have many "features" to start with, but Verizon disabled several. For example, according to Samsung, that family of phones can get ringtones from PCs, but Verizon disabled that ability so that I have to buy ringtones from them or their partners.

If you are long AAPL (which I am) the amazing news is that Verizon is spending so much money promoting a device that is a "real challenger to the iPhone". If you are a consumer do you want the "challenger" or do you want the real thing. The more attention that gets paid to the Pre, the N900, the Droid, always in the context that they are "real challengers" to the iPhone ust makes people want the iPhone more. Its a beautiful thing.

Meanwhile back at the Circle M Ranch… Motorola who claimed a 'profit' in Q3 continues to lay off engineers. A little whittle here a tiny slice there. I guess when you only lay off 500 people every month, it doesn't get above anyone's radar. We've laid off so many people in HR, they just don't have the manpower to lay off 10,000 people in a week, like back in the good ole days,

Nice eye opener article, having marketing background and reading what you say being true Verison in simple words is committing Sucide.
They are burning their cash for nothing.
If version is thinking it can do arm twisting with Apple, they may be dreaming.
Apple with stake of cash and their share at $205 today will soon be over $300as early as within a
week or two is unbeatable on innovation, marketing strategies, value it create for consumer and sharholders.
Didn't you saw the rush on Apple store opening at Paris this week?wow

Couple of things:
1. The Iphone was a first, and has set a rather high bar for any followers. It will be hard if not impossible for any new smartphone to escape the comparison.
2. If Verizon was "carpet-bombing" they did a poor job. I saw more of the Mac commercials than the Droid commercials.
Tend to agree with your thoughts about wanting to get the Iphone onboard eventually. Heck Verizon has the Droid and the Storm2 and can't make ground on the Iphone.
I've got a blackberry and am in no hurry to upgrade. I can wait until the Iphone lands on Verizon. It is going to happen sooner or later. Staying with AT&T only limits it's potential growth in the US market.

sigh… What's very very clear to me from (a) personal perspective; (b) comments here and elsewhere; (c) behavior of Verizon and ATT, etc, is what the consumer really wants is the iPhone on Verizon's network.

Part of what Verizon doesn't get, though, is that the iPhone customer does not want Verizon's business practices. I think a huge part of the iPhone's success is that Apple negotiated a position with ATT that mostly insulates iPhone users from ATT business practices, customer support, etc. Spending $100 per -Verizon- phone is not going to solve the problem that a lot of us don't want to deal with Verizon, no matter how attractive the handset.

The US Cellphone Industry has not grasped the fact that people basically hate their guts for poor customer service and business practices. The iPhone is a sea change not only for its technical capabilities, but for setting an entirely different relationship between the cellphone user and the wireless carrier. Trade rumors are that Verizon refused to give Apple the control over the integration that has made the iPhone a success and that's why Apple went to ATT. If Apple can get other carriers to cede control the way they've done with ATT, that will be the real breakthrough. There's no reason that carriers should have chokehold on handsets and the user experience… Let the carriers compete on what they do best, provide network/transport, and let the handset vendors compete independently.

"The carrier's true enemy is AT&T (T), to which it has been hemorrhaging subscribers ever since the iPhone arrived."
VERIZON'S TRUE ENEMY IS ITSELF, I.E. THEIR MANAGEMENT. I BELIEVE THAT THEY HAD FIRST CRACK AT GETTING THE iPHONE, BUT SNUBBED IT. THEY ARE CONTROL FREAKS AND ARE VERY ARROGANT. THEY ARE NOW PAYING THE PRICE, BUT WILL NOT ADMIT THEIR STUBBORN STUPIDITY. THEY NOW CHOOSE TO ATTACK THE COMPANY, APPLE, THAT THEY SHOULD BE KISSING THEIR BOTTOM SIDE. THEY SEEM TO THINK THAT ADVERTISING IS THEIR ALMIGHTY SAVIOR AND CAN MAKE POOR PRODUCTS WINNERS.
iPHONE IS THE BEST.
Verizon "has budgeted $100 million to support the Droid". VERIZON SHOULD REDUCE SUBSCRIBER PRICES BY $100 MILLION RATHER THAN ENRICHING ADVERTISING AGENCIES. THEY WOULD DO A LOT BETTER EVEN WITH POORER PRODUCTS.