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SAN JOSE, Calif.
— In one corner, we have
Silicon Valley
tech heavyweight Apple and its widely popular iPhone. In
the opposing corner, a new smart-phone challenger: the
Droid, powered by
Mountain View, Calif.
, Internet juggernaut
Google's
Android software, built by
Motorola
and sold by
Verizon Wireless
.
Verizon
earlier this month offered a tantalizing peek at the
Droid in an ad campaign with a slogan aimed directly at
the iPhone: "Everything iDon't, Droid Does."
On
Wednesday, the carrier provided detailed specs for the
Droid, which goes on sale
Nov. 6
.
Verizon
is pricing the Droid at
$199.99
— after a
$100
mail-in rebate, at least, and with a two-year voice and
data contract.
Apple's
most comparable iPhone 3GS, by contrast, costs
$199
for eligible customers — without a rebate, but with a
two-year commitment to voice and data service from
AT&T
.
Among the
Droid's features: a high-resolution 3.75-inch screen, a
slide-out keyboard, the ability to run more than one
application at the same time, a 5-megapixel camera,
turn-by-turn Google Maps navigation (in beta test mode,
at least), access to
Amazon.com's
MP3 store and other features.
The
iPhone 3GS comes with a 3.5-inch touch screen, a
3-megapixel camera, a digital compass, access to Apple's
popular iTunes music, video and application stores, and
other selling points. (But, hey, it's an iPhone.)
The Droid
can't match a number of the iPhone's key features in
terms of the number of games available for it or its
links to content stored in iTunes or available through
the iTunes store, noted
Avi Greengart
, an analyst who covers smart phones for market research
firm Current Analysis. But the Droid still has a lot of
things going for it, he said.
It's
"gorgeous;" it's the first phone to run
Android 2.0, the latest version of the operating system;
and it's being strongly backed by
Verizon
.
As such,
it's likely to prevent
Verizon
from losing customers to the iPhone, which is available
only from
AT&T
, and possibly draw in new customers, he said.
"It's
not an iPhone killer," said Greengart. "But it
is an iPhone defender."
In
August, as it became increasingly clear that his company
and Apple have become competitors,
Google
CEO
Eric Schmidt
left the
Cupertino, Calif.
, iPhone maker's board of directors.
This
month,
Google
and
Verizon
said they've been collaborating closely on phones that
run Android.
"This
is an exciting announcement for
Verizon Wireless
, as the Droid by
Motorola
is the first device that we are bringing to market under
our groundbreaking strategic partnership with
Google
,"
John Stratton
, chief marketing officer of
Verizon Wireless
, said in a statement Wednesday.
Of
course, the iPhone and the Droid aren't the only
smart-phone contenders:
Research In Motion
has introduced new models of its highly addictive
BlackBerry, including the Storm 2, and
Sunnyvale, Calif.
, handheld-device pioneer Palm is offering its new Pre
and Pixi phones, which run its webOS software.
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