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Verizon Droid

Update: Exchange Sync On Droid Won’t Cost Extra For Consumers

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Yesterday we put up a post, based off of a report from Infoworld, that the much anticipated Verizon Droid would require a $15 fee on top of the $30 per month data plan fee for those who want to connect their device to a corporate Exchange system.   Well, according, to a post over on Gearlog, this is not the case.

There’s a lot of confusion going on around the Internet about the Motorola Droid’s service plans. Some people are saying that if you want to connect to a Microsoft Exchange account, data will cost $45 a month instead of $30.
This is wrong.
Believe it or not, Gearlog contacted the same Verizon spokesperson, Brenda Raney, as did InfoWorld and this is what she had to say:
First of all, the Droid uses the exact same data plans as every Windows Mobile Phone  on Verizon. There is no special Droid data plan.

Second, whether you pay $30 or $45 doesn’t depend on what you’re doing with the phone. You can hit Exchange email on the $30 plan just fine. It depends on what kind of Verizon Wireless account you have.
Having read both of Ms. Raney’s qoutes I won’t say that they completely contradict each other, however, I can absolutely  see where what she said to InfoWorld was ambiguous enough to be misinterpreted.  The quote above is pretty straight forward.
[Via Gearlog]

Almost Thought For Minute That Verizon Wasn’t Going To Lock The Droid Down

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I’ll be the first one to say how much I love Verizon’s network and pretty much recommend it to anyone who travels and / or needs to know that they are going to get a strong signal pretty much everywhere and never drop calls.

I will also say that all the crap that Verizon installs on their devices in an effort to control or lock down what said devices can do natively unless, of course, you are willing pay an additional fee, is a horrible way for them to treat their customers and if T-Mobile or AT&T work well enough for you, go with them.

Case in point, the Verizon Droid, which happens to be coming out this weekend, can connect to Microsoft Exchange without any help from Verizon, however, because Verizon says that the Droid is “primarily a consumer phone”  they are going to charge you an extra 15 bucks per month to do so even though they aren’t providing you additional service.  To be completely honest Verizon probably spends less money supporting customers who pay the $15 Active Sync charge simply because they don’t have to actively block you from accessing Exchange Servers which the Droid can do out of the Box.

If only AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint didn’t suck when it comes to network coverage in comparison to Verizon.

[Source]

Should RIM Be Worried About Android? Investors Certainly Appear To Be

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If you go back to the the latter part of September, Research in Motion’s stock price (ticker RIMM) was over $88 per share.  At the time of this posting the price is down below $56.  A Large chunk of this decline was because of poorer than expected Q2 fiscal 2010 earnings where the stock price got hammered over a day and a half long period.  Things, however, seemed to settle down with not much movement, up or down, through most of October.

This was the case, at least, until Google announced Android 2 and Verizon started hyping the upcoming Verizon Droid while almost completely ignoring the BlackBerry Storm2.  RIM’s stock price has dropped about another 10 bucks since the Android 2 announcements.

Should RIM be worried about Android? I am guessing that they should at least be concerned…  I’d love to hear what you think in the comments.

The Storm2 Is Out But Is Verizon Betting On The Droid?

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Remember when the BlackBerry Storm came out last year?  Verizon hawked it everywhere possible.  Magazine ads, billboards, TV commercials, contests…  The BlackBerry Storm was the most hyped BlackBerry ever.

Move up a year and Verizon didn’t even officially announce the BlackBerry Storm2 until 2 days before the the device became available.  Verizon didn’t  market the BlackBerry Storm2 before it’s release at all.  Whether they will now that it is available remains to be seen.

That being said, it is hard to miss the buzz in front of the upcoming Verizon Droid, which Verizon just happens to be marketing the heck out of.  Word on the street is that Verizon is creating an interactive experience named Droid Does Times Square where people will be able to control both the Reuters and NASDAQ digital billboards.

Do a Google search for Verizon BlackBerry Storm2 (at the time of this posting) and you don’t get a single sponsored ad for the Verizon BlackBerry Storm2.  You may actually get a sponsored ad for the Droid (among the general flurry of no deposit casinos ads).  Search for Verizon Droid, and you most certainly do.  Probably several of them.

There is no question, at least from initial advertising efforts which device Verizon is betting on.