Because I took my time with this and have very distance publication dates, my Droid review was scooped by the business dept over at The Columbia Daily Tribune. But last Wednesday I got to sit down with Regional President of Verizon Brendan Fallis and the new Motorola Droid.
Last Wednesday I sat down with Fallis in my office. Quickly running through his territory is Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois, Fallis was worn out. The day before he had gotten his Droid and had stayed up until 3am getting it setup and playing with the phone’s many features. Clearly excited by this new product, I asked Fallis about the latest Verizon advertisements. You’ve probably seen the newest ads. Clear attacks on the iPhone and AT&T.
iDon’t and There’s a Map for That
Verizon is working to improve their network and they want you to know it. Fallis says “over 6 billion a year, over the past 5 or 6 years” has been put into improving their network. Over the next year they will be upgrading systems to 4G; St Louis will be one of their first 4G markets. Verizon wants to mobile device users to realize first you should buy a network, because that’s who you’re creating a long term relationship with.
At the same time, Verizon is working to get exclusivity on some of the top of the line phones. At the same time Fallis and I sat down, Verizon was having a launch event for the Blackberry Storm2. Verizon is RIM’s number 1 top customer and the Storm1 is already the best selling Blackberry this quarter. With the new Storm operating system available to current Storm users and on the new Storm2, Verizon and RIM are excited about this holiday season.
After a bit of a spat over the 700MHz frequency, it’s clear Google and Verizon are teaming up to server the customer. Verizon is making the shift to open development. They want to make the service the “Customers Choice, from a operating system standpoint, user interface standpoint, what you do with a phone and how you use a phone.” And with around 40 phones coming out this quarter it’s clear they want to offer options.
Knowing Verizon is already offering Netbooks and the suggested ongoing open-source relationship with Google. I pushed Fallis to talk about that relationship and the announced Google operating system, Chrome OS. He did not confirm anything, but was explained that Verizon is working very close with Google and if the opportunity benefited the customer, he knows Verizon would offer it.
Finally, Fallis and I talked about the merger with Alltel. Buying Alltel benefited Verizon by opening them up to new markets and benefited current Alltel customers by offering services and exclusive phones Alltel was not able to provide. Beyond that, Verizon has been able to improve Alltel’s existing network and increased staffing by 75%.
It was a pleasure sitting down with Fallis and getting a clear explanation of Verizon’s short-term and long-term plans. It was also very nice of him to leave me a Droid to play with. Later today I will post my experience having a week with the Droid.
Categories: Advertising, Business, Cell Tech, Consumer Interest, Marketing, Tech.
Why do I suddenly feel like grunting like Tim “The Toolman” Taylor from the famous sitcom, Home Improvement? The Droid sounds like the Binford 800 Horsepower Dual Exhaust Leaf Blower/Snow Remover/Chainsaw/Barbecue Grill Utility Device for us Tech Hounds! Can’t wait to read your review on it!