I’m sure you’ve heard that the Verizon iPhone 4 will be be hitting the streets Feb. 10 and at least one analyst believes that the marketing push this receives from Big Red will hurt Android.
Analyst Shaw Wu said that the Verizon iPhone 4 will be the first “true test” for Android because Big Red is pouring its marketing muscle behind the Apple smartphone. This is the right move to make right now because the Verizon iPhone 4 has been highly anticipated and I’ve already heard from 10 non-techie friends who are planning to switch (anecdotal evidence, yes, but a solid indicator of real public interest).
What will the Verizon iPhone 4 marketing push mean for the success of Android, which has been on a rocket ship the moon? If you remember, Android was a nerd’s delight a few years ago but it wasn’t really shipping that many units. It wasn’t until the Motorola Droid and the $100 million Droid Does campaign that the little, green robot took off in the United States.
I’m still unclear how much U.S. users are clamoring for Android and the Droid. In fact, I’ve still heard many mainstream users think “Droid” is “Android.”
On the other hand, I think that Android has come a long way since the Motorola Droid was released and not even the mighty Apple can stop its growth. Yes, the Verizon iPhone 4 will get lots of attention and marketing dollars but so will the Android 4G LTE devices that will hit in a few months, particularly because these will likely cost more per month (and produce more revenue for Big Red).
It’s not just Big Red though, as T-Mobile has gone all-in with the little green robot and so has Sprint. AT&T has landed the amazing Motorola Atrix 4G and it will likely spend more on pushing the little green robot now that it’s not the only carrier that has Apple’s smartphone. Google’s mobile operating system is also starting to trickle down into devices that will replace the feature phones of yesterday.
There may be a slight dip in Android success over the next few months, but there is no stopping this robot in the long term.
[Via Apple Insider]