Verizon does not want to combat the iPhone. Before the iPhone came to Verizon they did, but now the iPhone is one of Verizon's greatest allies. Verizon does not care one bit about any phone beating any other phone as long as they sell as many of them as they can.....
You're right, Verizon has no reason to combat the iPhone. I think what I meant to say is that Verizon wants to put something out there that, in essence, combats the iPhone in the sense that it offers a different option for those who just aren't interested in Apple's product.
I know a bunch of people who are not phone geeks in any sense of the word, yet they prefer an Android handset to the iPhone because of the bigger screens, 4g speed, etc. Verizon is going to want to put something out there that will mop up the customers who want a new and awesome phone, but just don't want the iPhone.
Is the Bionic that device? I think that by itself, the Bionic blows the iPhone out of the water, except probably for the screen. But the general feeling out on the web is that Verizon passed on the SGSII, not because of the Bionic coming out, but because of something coming down the pipeline.
And you are absolutely right about the fact that rumored phones will always be better than what is physically on the shelves. There's no doubt about that. I know full well that as soon as the Prime is announced officially, we'll be hearing rumors (and will probably have some shreds of evidence) of even better devices coming from Motorola, etc.
I think that the question a lot of us have is, which phone will I be most comfortable with for the next two years? And that's a question that will be answered differently by a lot of people. It doesn't make the other choice bad. I've never made any statement along the lines of "Bionic sucks" or "Bionic is going to be crappy". I think it is an awesome phone based on what I've seen, and I'm very jealous that a lot of people are going to get the phone they want in just about a week. Nothing wrong with either phone.
