why doesnt verizon do what apple does?

[triplegmax]

Ok so whenever Apple has something "special" or "magical" they hold a press conference, show off the device or software and generate huge industry buzz and keep the fanboys apple-boners hard. Take the iPad and recent iPhone OS4. Yeah people came out and said they hate what they are a closed system, but 700,000+ iPads sold obviously was generated by the press conference/unveiling.

So my question is, why don't Verizon, Google and HTC team up and unveil the incredible a month or so in advance? Do pre-sales and make it happen. sounds simple and lucrative. no?

Without it being unveiled this forum has generated 31k+ replies and 1.8 million views on the **Official** thread for the Incredible and its NOT EVEN OUT YET!

ok that is all. thoughts?

 

[secretLOVER]

Your comparing Apple releasing different products, or upgraded versions, to Verizon releasing the same kind of device. I'm sure if it was the first cell phone ever, it would be different. Instead they've got an inventory of phones (that are still next gen in some eyes) they need to reduce as well as many other factors.

 

[triplegmax]

Ok well then let me compare them to Sprint who did this very thing at CTIA. HTC and Sprint both were there to announce it.

I guess my biggest hangup is why is Verizon so quiet about this phone. its the most powerful phone that will be on their network...

 

[secretLOVER]

Could be what works for them. Could be a quality issue. Any way, its what they do.
I just hope they go all out with the advertising. I don't want a teaser ad like the Droid.

 

[triplegmax]

true. and i agree about the Droid.

 

[storm14k]

I was thinking the same thing. The lack of prerelease buzz bothers me. You end up with average first weekend sales which unfortunately has become the measuring stick for devices like this. Then the iFool bloggers start pointing out the "lagging sales" as a sign that the product is not good though it blows an iPhone out of the water.

Now some may think it doesn't matter...use what you like and forget about popularity. And thats true. But what I don't want to happen is a faltering of the ecosystem because of a perceived lack of consumer interest in Android. I wouldn't want new devs to be turned away because they think the phones don't sell. And I wouldn't want potential consumers to be turned away because they think the phones aren't selling for some reason which in turn may discourage new devs.

What I really want is somebody to kick Apples butt in marketing on one of these phones and out sell them on one of these launch weekends. It only has to happen once with the Android named attached. That should end most if not all consumer doubt.

 

[secretLOVER]

HTC quarterly sales are off the charts in the US.

Verizon doesn't seem to be losing steam either.

I don't think they'd continue this if it wasn't working.

 

[150_cav]

the phone verizon advertised the most was the droid, i dont see why they dont do it again personally but verizon has never been about the phone, they have been about the network

 

[icyfire]

What I really want is somebody to kick Apples butt in marketing on one of these phones and out sell them on one of these launch weekends. It only has to happen once with the Android named attached. That should end most if not all consumer doubt.

Ha, that is a tall order. Apple has pretty much written the book on modern marketing of electronics. The problem with many of these phone companies is that they don't really want to invest too much in one phone. They want to release a phone, let it run for a few months, and then move on to the next phone. Apple doesn't work like that which is why they market the heck out of whatever product they are currently selling. If you want someone to compete with Apple, than they literally will have to become Apple in terms of product philosophy and ecosystem.

 

[secretLOVER]

the phone verizon advertised the most was the droid, i dont see why they dont do it again personally but verizon has never been about the phone, they have been about the network

I've read here that the Droid wasn't announced and or advetised until 10 days prior to launch. Its the 12th so whn knows how much hype it will be.

 

[triplegmax]

i dont think they need to beat apple, but from a marketing standpoint. everyone by now knows what a iphone is. a lot of people i tell about the incredible are like who's htc? lol

i think we all know verizon's network is pretty damn good. they've beat that dead horse into the ground...but now they finally have a phone worth talking about that's better than the droid....so talk about it already.

im probably biased considering ive waited forever for this phone and not one peep out of verizon other than, yeah its coming

 

[DROID_SCOTSMAN]

Ha, that is a tall order. Apple has pretty much written the book on modern marketing of electronics. The problem with many of these phone companies is that they don't really want to invest too much in one phone. They want to release a phone, let it run for a few months, and then move on to the next phone. Apple doesn't work like that which is why they market the heck out of whatever product they are currently selling. If you want someone to compete with Apple, than they literally will have to become Apple in terms of product philosophy and ecosystem.

This is the proverbial hitting the head of the nail. Apple has 1 product (phone) that runs their OS. Android has multiple phones with multiple U.I.'s running their OS (and even multiple stages of their OS).

They will market this phone. That much is guaranteed. All the eggs are not dumped in this basket, cause quite frankly there are multiple baskets with varying 'handles' to accompany the user and their needs. Android is getting the exposure it needs to satisfy those worried about it "competing" with Apple. And no one product can be hyped to the extent of the iphone, because as noted above there are many different phones. What is being hyped is the OS. And then for those that want a candybar phone with no physical keyboard and x features- the incredible will be for you. For those wanting a keyboard they have the Droid etc..

In any case, my point is that iphone is different because what is actually being marketed is a specific phone running a specific OS. Android is not that way and therefore will never be marketed that way because it is not identified with a specific phone company or specific phone style.

 

[Flaring Afro]

Apple makes it's profits off of selling devices. Verizon makes profits off of it's networks and loses money with contracted device sales. Verizon is the most successful network, so you can't really question their business tactics.

Also, apple takes something that already exists, makes their own, and comes out and tries to make it seem like it's the second coming of jesus to try to make people believe things are better than they really are (ipad for example).

 

[QrafTee]

Why would Verizon invest in having a special announcement because they don't have a product that they produce themselves--unlike Apple. HTC could have its own, but it's expensive for their little company. Google can do it, but they can't really show favoritism to any one product that isn't their own and they believe their name alone is all the advertisement they need.

 

[Mr. Spontaneous]

Google would never do a presser for the Incredible, the Evo, the Galaxy S, or any device that doesn't ship with stock Android.

 

[storm14k]

I agree that its hard to market Android and in most cases not in the best interest of particular entities to break their neck hyping any particular product. In fact I still to this day believe this was the real point of the Nexus One. It was a phone that Google could push as the face of Android. Its hard to push and OS vs a device. It gave them a device to push without taking too much of anyones side by using a specific carrier and I notice you don't see HTC tagged on to it too much any more. But they haven't done any marketing outside of the internet.

I still think thats one of the problems with the Android platform. You can have all these great phones with people still looking at you like "huh??" when you name one. It just seems like any individual phone is still in danger of being seen as a knock off toy iPhone to those not in the know. I guess eventually the OS will become well known enough that saying "it runs Android" makes it clear. This is also important for the app market. You can say on your site for instance that theres an app for Android. But I imagine right now many people don't know what Android is or which phones run it.

 

[Mr. Spontaneous]

In Google's defense, I don't think you can get the kind of breathy, obsessive coverage that you see most of the newsmedia give Apple. What would have been nice was a N1 ad in place of the Super Bowl searchstories ad.

Hopefully they've adjusted their marketing accordingly, and will have a better strategy in place for the N2.

 

[stew560]

I liked TMo's myTouch and myTouch Fender commercials, what they were lacking was some sort of "Android" tagline ala Intel's "Ba Bum Bum Bum" thing after computer/laptop commercials. Could you imagine if Google had picked up the "DROID" thing that Verizon is doing and basically got to an agreement with all the carriers/vendors to play that at the end of the commercials? It would be catchy and memorable. At least SOMETHING that identifies each device as having the common core. (OS)

We've seen some of the "With Google" branding, but I don't think that is as powerful and its not universal.

The use of Android OS is diverse, and while it is a good thing, it dilutes the brand. Joe Consumer doesn't realize that the phone in the commercial with Eric Clapton is running the same core OS as the DROID, etc...