Motorola Droid 2 (and R2-D2 edition!) finally official: Android 2.2, Swype, $200 on contract
All together now: “Finally!” At long last, the leaks are being plugged by none other than Verizon itself, who today confirmed that the Droid 2 is more than just a figment of everyone's imagination.
Context & Ripple Effects
The Droid 2 lands barely two months after the DROID X hands-on preview cycle put Motorola back at the center of Verizon's lineup — the DROID X was reviewed in early July just as forum reports of its locked e-fuse bootloader were circulating, unconfirmed. Today's confirmation plugs the leak pipeline that has run ahead of every Droid launch this summer.
The stakes are set by the market position Motorola helped build: per the confirmed Q2 2010 figures, Motorola and HTC drove Android past every rival to the leading U.S. smartphone OS spot. The Droid 2 — Android 2.2, Swype preloaded, $200 on contract, plus a collector-baiting R2-D2 edition — is the first refresh of the original Droid formula since that milestone.
First-order effects
- Verizon gets a QWERTY-slider flagship running Froyo out of the box, giving it a direct counter to touchscreen-only rivals while the original Droid ages on shelves.
- Motorola extends the Droid franchise into a second generation at launch, and the R2-D2 special edition converts the line's Star Wars branding into a limited-run SKU.
Second-order effects
- Swype gains its highest-profile distribution yet as factory-installed software on a mass-market carrier exclusive, pressuring other keyboard vendors to chase preload deals rather than app-store downloads.
- Rivals selling QWERTY Android handsets now face a $200 device pairing a physical keyboard with the newest Android version, squeezing devices stuck on older builds.
Third-order effects
- If the Droid X and Droid 2 launches mark the template, Verizon and Motorola are moving toward an annualized, carrier-exclusive flagship cadence — each refresh resetting the $199–$200 contract price point rather than undercutting it.
- Locked bootloaders and preloaded software on these exclusives sharpen the split between carrier-controlled phones and the enthusiast community that has been probing Droid hardware since the e-fuse rumors surfaced in July.
The trend: Android's U.S. lead in 2010 is being defended through carrier-exclusive hardware franchises, with Verizon and Motorola institutionalizing yearly Droid refreshes at a fixed on-contract price.