Verizon is pushing its new Android tablet, the Motorola Xoom, with a series of advertisements that entertain and showcase some of the featurees of the device. Noticeably missing from either advertisement is the familiar Droid branding. The characteristic logo, sound, and red eye animation that characterized Motorola’s Android handsets on Verizon have been dropped from the Xoom commercials. The naming of the device as the Xoom and not the Droid Xoom further distances this tablet from its smartphone brethren.
This move by Motorola and Verizon is interesting as the term Droid has become synonymous with Android handsets, much to the chagrin of Android faithful. Because of Verizon’s slick marketing, the average consumer will stroll into a mobile phone store and ask for a Droid, not necessarily an Android handset. Why Verizon and Motorola would move away from this successful branding for its tablet device is not known. Yes, one is a tablet and one is a smartphone, but the name recognition of Droid is sto strong, you would think the two companies would want to extend it to its tablet line.
The two Xoom videos sans the Droid branding are available below as well as the original Droid advertisement that kicked this whole thing off.