Quote:
Originally Posted by Gwen Morse
When I joined the group, none of them had heard of Android. I bought a G1 and showed it around. Still no interest in Android. When the original Droid was released by Verizon, there was a stampede for Android phones (not all bought Droids however).
I'm not arrogant enough to think I had anything to do with the Android migration -- I think it was Verizon's marketing department.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DMcCunney
One bit that isn't clear is how much name recognition Android has, and how much the fact that the phone uses Android as the OS influences a purchase decision. If two phones have similar designs and feature sets, will a user pick the Android phone because it uses Android? I suspect Android is now a factor in the purchase decision. I just don't know how big a factor it is.
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I'm sure VZW has a lot to do with it; the licensing fees they're paying LucasFilm for the Droid name alone would probably feed a Third-World country. They could just as easily have called it HAL or WOPR or Big Red (just think: Special-edition metallic red Droid X...in fact I expect one to drop right around Christmas). VZW wanted people to associate the OS and the brand name thereby blurring the distinction. I'm sure that will rub off on phones such as the LG Ally which runs Android 2.1..."Oh hey, it's the same OS as the Droid, only $100 less..."
My stepdaughter said she wanted a Droid X because she'd seen all the commercials and was surrounded by iPhone users in her part of the country. Backlash perhaps?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gwen Morse
I'd say folks in my group fall in the third category, except, they're not treating the phone the way a gadget-loving geek would treat it. They're not rooting the phones/installing custom firmware. Individually, they each barely touch the app store (I've asked). They seem to just use them to make calls, text, and play fancy ringtones.
I really get the impression from their comments that they're buying and using the phones for some sort of "geek-cred" accessory. It's like they've each been told to think that Real Geeks (TM) don't use iPhones, they use Android phones. So, each has run out to get the biggest, shiniest phone on their carrier of choice. Once they have them, they wander around saying "Here's my geek phone" rather than tinkering with it, like a geek would.
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Ugh...has it really come to that? </rhetorical>
As Dennis will probably agree, there will be a number of people who couldn't care less about the OS as long as it "Just Works". Lots of Ubuntu users fall into that same category, while those more knowledgeable just stand back and nod their heads. If someone wants to gain geek cred with me using their phone, they'd better have a terminal emulator open on it running an ssh session.
On the other side of the coin, if it wasn't for Android, would anyone care about the Droid X?