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Sat, Nov 21, 2009 - 02:35 PM EST  —  AAPL: 199.92 (-0.59, -0.29%)  |  NASDAQ: 2146.04 (-10.78, -0.5%)

Chicago Sun-Times’ Ihnatko: Motorola Droid’s ‘iDon’t’ ad’s claims about iPhone are baloney
Friday, November 06, 2009 - 03:59 PM EST

Apple Online Store Andy Ihnatko writes for The Chicago Sun-Times, "Verizon’s ubiquitous 'iDon’t' commercial has been peppering TV for weeks now. It makes two conventional mistakes in advertising. It’s not clear that it’s an ad for the Verizon Droid phone... [and] its claims about the limitations of the iPhone are baloney. (Mostly.)"

Some of the Droid's "iDon't" ads claims debunked:
iDon’t have a real keyboard: I can type twice as fast on the iPhone as I can on the Droid’s mechanical keyboard. Nobody [who tested it] thought the Droid’s [mechanical] keyboard was very good.
• iDon’t run simultaneous apps: Not completely true. You can’t run more than one third party app simultaneously on an iPhone. When I’m navigating with my third-party GPS app, the iPod app is playing music and the Mail app is fetching mail in the background.
iDon’t allow open development: Droid shouldn’t try to fight the iPhone toe-to-toe on apps. It’s absolutely no contest: the iPhone has the largest, broadest, and highest-quality library of mobile apps anywhere. Verizon is aiming a peashooter against the USS Nimitz.

Ihnatko continues in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Motorola Droid: "iDon't have a chance in hell at dethroning Apple's iPhone."

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Russ W." for the heads up.]

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Nov 06, 09 - 04:10 pm Comment from: wha

ihnatko rocks

Nov 06, 09 - 04:10 pm Comment from: whatever

Yeah the geeks will buy the DROID but it will go in the bottom of their pocket and collect dust. It will be so difficult to use that no one will waste their time with it. The iPhone always stays in peoples hands because it is easy and convenient to use. People just use it.

Nov 06, 09 - 04:11 pm Comment from: Ebster

First.Nice try Droid! Not even close!
Crash and burn!!!! Next?!

Nov 06, 09 - 04:14 pm Comment from: Ebster

Ok not first, third

Nov 06, 09 - 04:15 pm Comment from: Jubei

Verizon is pissing against the wind with their mouths wide open. Yeah thats how good their "iDon't know how to make an iPhone" ads are.

Nov 06, 09 - 04:19 pm Comment from: surfcity

"Verizon is aiming a peashooter against the USS Nimitz."
Good one Andy.

@whatever
Well said.

If Company needs to reply on misinformation to sell a product, what does that say about both the Company and the product? And doesn't it hurt credibility in the long run?

Nov 06, 09 - 04:20 pm Comment from: acid

Droid/Verizon: iDon't have my own innovation so I'll use the Apple's catch phrases to advertise my knock-offs.

I chuckled at the "iDon't do widgets" flash sign. Like the average phone buyer is going to care whether an app is called an 'app' or a 'widget'.

Nov 06, 09 - 04:20 pm Comment from: chabig

iDon't work outside the United States.
iDon't hold more than 256MB of apps.
iDon't have multitouch.
.
.
.

Nov 06, 09 - 04:22 pm Comment from: ipod

iDon't have to wait in line.....

Nov 06, 09 - 04:26 pm Comment from: Brocktoon

Ihnatko's review of the Droid was glowing.

Nov 06, 09 - 04:27 pm Comment from: Connor MacBook

Andy hasn't actually debunked any of those claims, he's just said "Yeah, but ..."

Nov 06, 09 - 04:27 pm Comment from: AAPLguy

"Verizon is aiming a peashooter against the USS Nimitz."

Man, Ihnatko can be funny!

Nov 06, 09 - 04:35 pm Comment from: TowerTone

"Gimme a 'D'"
D!
"Gimme a 'roid'
Roid!
"What does it spell?"
Motorola!

Nov 06, 09 - 04:39 pm Comment from: Bob

My big question has to do with Verizon itself. The reason I dumped them in the first place was a) poor to no Mac support; b) charging out the ass for anything and everything.

So has that changed? Can you sync your contacts, bookmarks, music? Do they charge trillions of dollars for sending a text message?

Nov 06, 09 - 04:43 pm Comment from: January 24, 1984

The hemaDroid will swell up for a while, and then pop.

Nov 06, 09 - 04:47 pm Comment from: Dude

iDon't have to pay for visual voicemail

Nov 06, 09 - 05:14 pm Comment from: troy

Those ads are directed to ignorant people, thanks God that is not for me smile

Nov 06, 09 - 06:38 pm Comment from: The Other Steve

More blood on iPhone's multitouch screen.

Nov 06, 09 - 06:57 pm Comment from: ken1w

Yet another differentiator. If Verizon actually had the iPhone, Apple would not permit Verizon to create and run advertisements to promote it. It would be in the contract, "Verizon will not run lame-ass ads to promote the iPhone. Apple will be solely responsible for marketing the iPhone." I've seen a few ATT ads with the iPhone in it, but they were pretty generic and unmemorable; the "real" iPhones ads are the ones created by Apple. I don't think Verizon will be able to stomach just being "the pipes," a role that ATT is happy to play (although they often do it poorly).

Nov 06, 09 - 07:41 pm Comment from: Hugh G Rection

I can't wait for the hype cycle to run its course, and for reality to set in for the Droid. The Verizon ads are an indication that the company could not get a deal done with Apple. And now, they want to piss in Steve's cornflakes.

I've read the reviews, and overall, the Droid is pretty good. I frankly hate its styling - it's so very PC. The Android OS still has some rough edges. And as MDN pointed out, the Droid has severe memory limitations. Then there's Verizon: great network, terrible customer attitude. I think we'll find that they still want to soak the customer, and will find ways to do so, not to mention dumb down the Droid to not let it do many things we take for granted with the iPhone.

I have no doubt that the Android OS will continue to improve. But Apple won't stand still either. The huge developer community, their massive lead in game apps, and that little advantage called iTunes give Apple a huge advantage. Dweebs like to talk about features, but ease of use and the elegance of the iPhone OS will continue to help Apple keep its lead, despite growing competition.

One thing I hope is that the revenues generated by the iPhone will benefit AT&T;. What?!!? Did you hear me hope that a greedy cell carrier will benefit? You heard right. Look, I'm no fan of AT&T;or any US cell carrier. They're all pricks. But my hope is that AT&T;will use the growing revenues from the iPhone to expand its 3G network. I believe that it can, and should.

The more that AT&T;adds more cells in major cities and suburbs, along the interstates and eventually, across rural America, the one big argument in favor of Verizon will be rendered moot. I can't wait for that to happen, not only for better service, but to see the asshats at Verizon eat their words.

Nov 06, 09 - 09:07 pm Comment from: Rike

Yahoo Finance had a Droid article where the two buyers were obviously Apple haters. Hope they like the $350 ETF.

Nov 06, 09 - 10:32 pm Comment from: Arnold Ziffel

"HemaDroid"

Nice one, January 24, 1984.

Nov 07, 09 - 12:33 am Comment from: Jubei

@Rike

What can you expect from two Yahoos!

Nov 07, 09 - 05:55 am Comment from: Daniel

jailbreak your iphone with blackra1n. then you have the best of both worlds......wooooooooot!

Nov 07, 09 - 07:33 am Comment from: Alex Bold

"the iPhone has the largest, broadest, and highest-quality library of mobile apps anywhere"

There is an app for proving that. Unfortunately, it wasn't accepted to iStore by iManagement because it had iPhone logo on its cover.

Nov 07, 09 - 08:13 am Comment from: Hm...

@ troy

Those ads are directed to ignorant people...

Unfortunately, the US has a surplus of those right now.

Nov 07, 09 - 08:31 am Comment from: nsapap

@ Hugh G,

You said it. The only reason I don't have an iPhone is the poor reception I get in my house via ATT's network. As soon as that changes I'll dump my Alltel (a.k.a. Verizon) account and so will the rest of my family (we've got 5 accounts going month-to-month, just waiting for the right time to jump ship!).

Nov 07, 09 - 08:36 am Comment from: TB2

I'm not a big fan of AT&T;at all, but they have done a decent job of expanding their 3G network in my area over the last 6 months.

Nov 07, 09 - 05:47 pm Comment from: Cubert

My girlfriend got a myPhone which runs Android a while ago (she had too much left on her T-Mobile contract to get an iPhone like she wanted). It is very disappointing. They try to copy the iPhone but it isn't intuitive at all like the iPhone. It's also very wonky in it's 3G and wifi connectivity.

Nov 07, 09 - 06:04 pm Comment from: Cubert

The not running simultaneous apps myth is the biggest deception. Besides some of Apple's apps running simultaneously, the push notification API eliminates most needs to actually have an app running.

Nov 09, 09 - 10:07 am Comment from: NCIceman

I agree about the "open" development comment. Anyone can write and submit an app to the app store. Sure, there are a few extra hoops to jump through, but in exchange for that hassle the customer gets assurance that each app will run and is not malicious....unlike the "open" jailbroken phones that just got hit with their first worm...

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