Verizon's LG Voyager heads up newly official fall lineup
Verizon isn't kidding around this fall, with four new fashionable phones, a couple of which might divert a few iPhone dollars from archrival AT&T. It's those exact four that Engadget Mobile got the scoop on last weekend, the Juke, Pearl, Venus and Voyager.
Context & Ripple Effects
The official announcement closes the loop on a fast-moving rumor cycle: Engadget Mobile outed the Juke, Pearl, Venus and Voyager just days ago, and an August product-line document had already shown Verizon preparing 15 still-unannounced phones for release. What is new today is confirmation and framing — Reuters and Engadget both cast the lineup as a direct answer to Apple's iPhone on AT&T, with the LG-made Voyager positioned as the flagship thanks to faster wireless Web access.
First-order effects
- Verizon turns four leaked handsets into a coordinated holiday-season push, with the Voyager carrying the carrier's first credible touchscreen counter to the iPhone and BlackBerry's Pearl covering the messaging crowd.
Second-order effects
- AT&T now faces a holiday quarter where the iPhone's exclusivity advantage is met feature-for-feature rather than conceded, forcing its marketing to defend the device's differentiation instead of assuming it.
- LG gains leverage as Verizon's go-to hardware partner for the flagship slot, building on the momentum of its high-end Viewty camera phone unveiled in August.
Third-order effects
- If the Voyager sells, US carriers will keep answering exclusive smartphones with their own branded lineups, accelerating the shift from carrier-controlled feature phones to handset-led platform competition heading into 2008.
The trend: US carriers are moving from reacting to the iPhone to fielding purpose-built rivals, with Verizon betting that faster network access can offset Apple's software lead.