The Bionic
was supposed to be positioned as Verizon Wireless' flagship 4G LTE
smartphone--the first with a dual-core processor--when it launched in
early September. But its reign barely lasted a month, and following
several recent announcements, it may not even rank as the third-best
Android phone in Verizon's lineup by November. The speed in which new Android devices are hitting the market speaks to
the strength of Google's mobile platform. But it also leads to a lot of
headaches for consumers who can be overwhelmed by the sheer number of
options emerging every day. It's like the Best Buy commercial parodying the next great device coming out moments after you buy it, only it's playing out in real life. Handset manufacturers can't like the pace either. They spend millions of
dollar of research and development on the hot new device, only to lose
the spotlight after a few days (or, in the case of the Droid Razr, a few
hours).
The Motorola Droid Razr was in the spotlight for a few hours.
It was a short reign for the Droid Bionic.
(Credit:
Motorola)
"This sort of churn bothers both consumers and OEMs, for whom such a
cycle is costly and, arguably, wasteful," said Roger Kay, an analyst for
Endpoint Technologies.
For simplicity's sake, let's just look at Verizon's lineup for the
holidays. In the past, the carrier has focused its marketing efforts on
one big phone, known in the industry as a halo device, since the buzz
around it often draws in consumers and drives the sales of other phones.
Past results have been mixed. The first Droid by Motorola was a smash
hit, and helped propel Android into the mainstream. Prior to that was
the BlackBerry Storm, which sold well but was plagued with glitches and a
clunky user interface. Back then, customers knew exactly what was the phone to get.
That strategy has now been thrown out the window, as Verizon has at
least four to five high-profile smartphones to offer for the holidays,
one seemingly looking to top the preceding one.
Yesterday, Verizon and Motorola jointly unveiled the Droid Razr, a dual-core 4G LTE smartphone that boasts a thinner profile than the
iPhone 4S. It represents a massive upgrade over the Droid Bionic, which just hit the market a month ago.
Granted, the Bionic suffered a well-documented series of delays, and
should have technically hit the market in the second quarter. But the
extra time to redesign the phone and bring it to market seems wasted
with the introduction of the Razr. Why would anyone buy the Bionic now?
Several hours after the Razr unveiling, Google and Samsung showed off the Galaxy Nexus,
the first smartphone running on Ice Cream Sandwich, which is the latest
version of Android. The upgraded operating system is the first to
integrate both smartphone and
tablet
user interfaces, and comes with a raft of new features. The Galaxy
Nexus will run on LTE and is expected to also come to Verizon.
The Galaxy Nexus comes on the heels of the Stratosphere,
which just launched last week as part of Samsung's flagship Galaxy S II
line of Android mobile devices. Samsung clearly took pains to customize
the Verizon version of its popular Galaxy S II phone, adding a keyboard
and LTE compatibility, yet it is already selling at a discount at
various retailers.
Does anybody remember the Stratosphere? A few days ago the Galaxy S II phones were among hottest out there. Today, not so much.
For Verizon, having such a robust lineup--which includes the recently
launched iPhone 4S--is a boon, and a stark contrast from the older basic
cell phone days, when the hottest devices only ran on the GSM network
used by AT&T and T-Mobile USA. Gadget bloggers, and tech journalists
such as myself, love the torrent of new devices because it means more
to write about.
But the rate at which these new super smartphones are emerging is
dizzying. That run of phones doesn't even include the wave of devices
hitting the market with the other major carriers. People often hold off
purchasing new phones so they can see what's coming ahead; with such a
steady flow of new products, they may end up paralyzed with indecision.
It sounds counterintuitive, but the Android world, customers, and
handset manufacturers included, could stand to see fewer launches of the
next big thing.
