Verizon's anti-iPhone gets its first commercial: ‘Droid Does’
We knew Verizon Wireless would soon be throwing caution to the wind in an effort to sway uncommitted smartphone buyers towards Big Red, and it looks like the November-bound Motorola Droid will be VZW's anti-iPhone.
Context & Ripple Effects
Verizon had already opened a network-focused advertising challenge to AT&T in early October, using the iPhone’s carrier relationship as a competitive opening. The Motorola Droid campaign extends that approach from carrier coverage to handset positioning, giving Verizon a named alternative for smartphone buyers.
First-order effects
- Verizon and Motorola gain a single, heavily branded sales message for the November-bound Droid, explicitly positioning it against the iPhone.
- AT&T’s iPhone-led smartphone pitch faces a Verizon campaign that pairs a handset rival with Verizon’s existing network critique.
Second-order effects
- Smartphone marketing shifts toward a combined carrier-and-device comparison, raising the pressure on AT&T to defend both its network message and its iPhone advantage.
- Other Verizon smartphone launches, including the Imagio and planned Palm Pre, risk being measured against the Droid as Verizon’s flagship answer to the iPhone.
Third-order effects
- If carriers continue to build campaigns around exclusive or signature handsets, smartphone competition will be shaped as much by carrier marketing and network claims as by device specifications.
- The move points toward flagship phones becoming strategic tools for carriers to redirect subscriber choice away from a rival’s marquee device.
The trend: U.S. carriers are turning flagship smartphones into advertising weapons, tying handset differentiation to broader battles over network perception and subscriber acquisition.