Exclusive: Motorola Droid X preview
Not interested in waiting until the 23rd for Verizon's big announcement? Don't worry, we've got you covered right now! The Motorola Droid X has probably been one of the worst kept smartphone secrets in recent memory, but after spending two hours with the phone we sort of see why.
Context & Ripple Effects
Motorola's Droid X has leaked so thoroughly that Engadget's two-hour hands-on functions less as a scoop than as a de facto early launch, arriving eight days before Verizon's planned June 23 event. The syndication trail shows how muddled the rollout already is: PC Magazine framed the June 23 date around a 'Droid 2' headline while Fortune floated a July 19 debut, so even the trade press can't agree on what ships when.
The strategic backdrop is Verizon's campaign against being locked out of the iPhone. CEO Ivan Seidenberg said in April 2010 that Verizon had told Apple it wants the device, and the carrier has spent the spring arming its non-iPhone lineup — making 3G Mobile Hotspot free on the Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus and cutting those handsets to $49.99 and $29.99. A credible homegrown Android flagship is the other half of that pitch.
First-order effects
- The hands-on strips the surprise from Verizon's June 23 announcement, turning the carrier's event into a confirmation exercise and handing Motorola weeks of uncontrolled pre-launch buzz.
- Buyers and press now face conflicting public timelines — June 23 versus Fortune's suggested July 19 debut — which risks muting the impact of whatever official reveal Verizon stages.
Second-order effects
- Rival handset makers on competing carriers face pressure to accelerate their own flagship refresh cycles, since Verizon-plus-Motorola is raising the hardware baseline mid-year.
- Verizon's April counterprogramming on Palm — free tethering and sub-$50 handsets — pairs with a flagship Droid X to strengthen its pitch to customers weighing AT&T's iPhone exclusivity.
Third-order effects
- If Seidenberg's stated bid to carry the iPhone succeeds while the Droid line matures, Verizon's strategy shifts from defending a single hero device to running competing flagship lineups across both ecosystems.
- Leak-driven previews like this one erode the single-event unveiling model, nudging carriers and OEMs toward staged drips of detail rather than one controlled announcement.
The trend: Smartphone flagships in 2010 are launching through leaks before their official events, while Verizon builds an Android bench as leverage in its pursuit of the iPhone.