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Was the Droid launch more successful than the iPhone?

F

funkdoctor

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 30, 2008
59
2
I know I am not going to get a unbiased opinion on this forum. But I read a few articles today on the Droid and apparently they are claiming almost 800,000 Droids sold as of now, with a goal of 1 million by the end of the year. Here's the thing, check out this steve jobs quote -

"One million iPhones in 74 days," Apple CEO Steve Jobs exulted in a press release. "It took almost two years to achieve this milestone with iPod."

The Droid hasn't been out for a full month yet. Now, I don't think that the Droid is necessarily more popular than the iPhone. I think the iPhone redefined smart phones when it was relased. I think there are that many people not interested in being on AT&T, combined with interest in Android phones. Basically, my question is, is the Droid getting the credit it deserves? If it is selling better than the iPhone did (or on par) I think it definitely deserves some respect as a very popular smart phone. If my numbers are off, or there is some information I missed, I am happy to be corrected. Not looking to start a "iPhone is better!" war, just wondering the general consensus. I for one, didn't realize they were that popular, but I do now 6 or 7 people that bought one on launch day.
 
The iPhone was in short supply, was 2G only, had no apps, was the first phone using that OS, cost a lot more, and was a complete foreign-looking thing to most people.

So, in number of sales, it may not have done as well, but it would probably be fairer to compare the G1, or to look at revenues, or to wait awhile and see if Droid blazes the trail in the same way iPhone did.
 
cmaier said:
The iPhone was in short supply, was 2G only, had no apps, was the first phone using that OS, cost a lot more, and was a complete foreign-looking thing to most people.

So, in number of sales, it may not have done as well, but it would probably be fairer to compare the G1, or to look at revenues, or to wait awhile and see if Droid blazes the trail in the same way iPhone did.
Click to expand...
Exactly. Also, I believe the 3G and 3Gs sold a million each in the first weekend of their release...
 
1st Gen iPhone cost A LOT more than the Droid. You have to put that into consideration.
 
It's been a success thus far. Good for Verizon customers. My sister bought one yesterday.

Personally I hate the keyboard.

Also, this is good for us. More competition is always good.
 
I personally think those numbers are not correct.. The droid has not been that big of a success.. I have yet to see 1 person walking around the mall or anywhere with one!

I agree with everyone that say u can't compare the launch.. Will verizon be able to have more people camp out for the next generation like apple did?
 
gigapocket1 said:
I personally think those numbers are not correct.. The droid has not been that big of a success.. I have yet to see 1 person walking around the mall or anywhere with one!

I agree with everyone that say u can't compare the launch.. Will verizon be able to have more people camp out for the next generation like apple did?
Click to expand...

If you live in the U.S., there are 300 million people. At most 1 million have the phone (probably much fewer, as I assume the 1 million includes world-wide sales). You would be very unlikely to see them in the wild at this point.
 
I dont know about exact numbers but I think the Pre got alot more attention and media coverage than the Droid release.
And lets not even compare it to the Iphone releases where there was a media frenzy and long lines at Apple and AT&T stores thruout the country and stores where sold out for weeks.
 
gigapocket1 said:
I personally think those numbers are not correct.. The droid has not been that big of a success.. I have yet to see 1 person walking around the mall or anywhere with one!

I agree with everyone that say u can't compare the launch.. Will verizon be able to have more people camp out for the next generation like apple did?
Click to expand...

Wow, excellent logic. You know if you judge things by what you have personally seen, you'd be horribly, horribly misinformed, right?

I've never been to Paris, but I'm relatively sure it exists.
 
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cmaier said:
gigapocket1 said:
I personally think those numbers are not correct.. The droid has not been that big of a success.. I have yet to see 1 person walking around the mall or anywhere with one!

I agree with everyone that say u can't compare the launch.. Will verizon be able to have more people camp out for the next generation like apple did?
Click to expand...

If you live in the U.S., there are 300 million people. At most 1 million have the phone (probably much fewer, as I assume the 1 million includes world-wide sales). You would be very unlikely to see them in the wild at this point.
Click to expand...

Yes, but not all of those 300m people are equally likely to buy something like the droid. you'd expect the concentration to be a lot higher than 1/300 among a certain age range (20s-50s?) and socioeconomic status. if you're in those demographics and haven't seen any, it does make you wonder.

Anyway, the comparison to the 2g iPhone doesn't make sense. It's 2.5 years later, and the smartphone market is radically different (i.e. bigger). Moreover, the iPhone was the first phone from its manufacturer and the first with its OS. Neither is true for the droid (ok it's the first with android 2.0, but that's not the same). Oh, and the iPhone started at $500 for a locked phone.
 
jav6454 said:
1st Gen iPhone sold more or less 200,000 units in the first weekend. Don't quote me, look for it here in MR.
Click to expand...

Yes, you are correct. I read that in the first article I quoted. It also took 74 days to reach a million sold. The Droid was somewhere in the 600,000 mark after 2 weeks. None of this has anything to do with the topic though.

I guess my point mainly is, I didn't realize how popular it was but at this point I would say it has become a legitimate competitor. To sell that many phones post iPhone is quite a feat. They are talking 1,000,000+ before the end of the year. Thats a lot of customers. My main point wasn't that it's better than the iPhone, but how surprised I was at how much was sold in such a short period of time. You have to realize that one thing that helped the iPhone sell a lot was the innovation for its time. For a phone to sell that much after all of the viable options out there is quite a feat IMO.
 
I think the droid did really well on it release when you factor in they do not have rabid apple fanboys that will buy anything apple puts out.
And the Droid does not have the media hype that apple gets for everything. Strip out those things from the iPhone and compare it to the droid and the droid did really damn good.
 
Rodimus Prime said:
I think the droid did really well on it release when you factor in they do not have rabid apple fanboys that will buy anything apple puts out.
And the Droid does not have the media hype that apple gets for everything. Strip out those things from the iPhone and compare it to the droid and the droid did really damn good.
Click to expand...

Remember apple couldn't have sold a million that fast if they wanted to - they didn't have enough to sell.
 
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Are we sure about these numbers? 600,000 after 2 weeks? I thought it was at about 100,000 after the first weekend (3 days). that would mean actually accelerated over the next two weeks, which would really surprise me.
 
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Hmm, after reading, it seems to me the $100m advertising budget might have something to do with this, too.
 
QCassidy352 said:
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Are we sure about these numbers? 600,000 after 2 weeks? I thought it was at about 100,000 after the first weekend (3 days). that would mean actually accelerated over the next two weeks, which would really surprise me.
Click to expand...

The Droid hasn't even been out for a month yet. So there had to be some acceleration somewhere.
 
While I don't know what the actual sales figures are, don't discount the "pent up demand" factor for an above average smartphone from Verizon. After years of crippling features on their handsets and lackluster models, Verizon customers were more than willing to pull the trigger on the Droid since there wasn't much incentive to move from older handsets like the Treo or BB models, until this new handset hit the shelves.
 
Applejuiced said:
I dont know about exact numbers but I think the Pre got alot more attention and media coverage than the Droid release.
And lets not even compare it to the Iphone releases where there was a media frenzy and long lines at Apple and AT&T stores thruout the country and stores where sold out for weeks.
Click to expand...

The Pre had market buzz and hype and build up and then they let it slip away with a poor rollout. I guess Sprint did not have the cash to market the Pre like Verizon did for the Droid. I was with Sprint at the time and eagerly waited on the Pre. I was very disappointed with the lack of marketing. Well, that and the device was not that great. After 3 weeks with the Pre, I left for the 3GS. I now wonder what would have become of Palm had they talked VZW into the Pre exclusive?

Marketing, and pent-up demand for a cool device with a nice touchscreen from your loyal-not-going-to-go-to-ATT-for-a-iPhone customers really got the Droid some traction. Cuz you don't see anything coming from Motorola about it, do you?
 
Come back to the droid in 2 years and see how many they've sold compared to the iPhone lineup. My guess is that Apple will still have the advantage. We'll see though.

Hoping this competition will make the iPhone even better.
 
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