Glowing red cyborg eyes,
bombs dropped from stealth fighters, emotionless calls of "DRRROOOIIID" every time you get a text message -- it's enough to scare yesterday's lunch out of anyone. Verizon's no-holds-barred advertising campaign for the Motorola
Droid has been so
hellishly frightening overwhelmingly successful, in fact, that it appears to be paying dividends either directly or indirectly against Moto's biggest rivals. YouGov's BrandIndex -- an ongoing survey measuring brand loyalty through some secret-sauce methodology that only analysts would fully comprehend -- shows a marked spike in Moto's score in the critical adult male category, while Apple and RIM have taken hits over the same period. These numbers look terribly volatile over a relative short span, so we're not going to be rushing to any conclusions -- but by any measure, it's pretty wild to see Moto go from a has-been to besting the bulletproof cult of iPhone in just a few short weeks. In the long term, it'll be interesting to see just how deeply Moto's and Apple's carrier relationships are factoring into public sentiment; after all, momentum's certainly on Verizon's side right now.
posted November 24th 2009 4:23PM
@(Unverified) "it appeals to the geek in me more than the proprietary and overhyped iPhone"
Looking at this objectively I think that that's the issue with the Droid. Geeks will get a rise out of "a bare-knuckled bucket full of does" but the average consumer will not get it. We gadget nerds are a demographic unto ourselves but we are still a minority. Still, we'll see how things play out.
@(Unverified) I had the first iPhone - one of it's limitations was unless you were connected to WiFi you couldn't use the 'net and the phone at the same time. Since I use data more than I use voice people calling me often went straight to voicemail. Often times I'd never know they called because they thought my phone was turned off or I declined their call and they didn't leave a message.
I now have a 3GS and the best part of AT&T 3G is I can use the 'net and the phone at the same time. Verizon's version of "3G" does not allow that. Statistically, Verizon's connection reliability is better than AT&T, but since I use data much more than voice I'll stick with AT&T and hope they continue to improve their coverage (I've already seen places where that's happened).
@rcappo
I'm just complaining about the graph itself. It LOOKS like trend lines. There are no trends. Each column is a discrete concept with a score. Each column needs to be represented as a separate bar graph depicting the scores for the three brands. You can't connect those columns and make a trend line out of them. It's bogus.
That *is* a trend graph. Those headers at the top are tabs for different statistics. If you click on them you can get stats for those other categories. Notice that 'recommend' is highlighted on the top. Also notice the dates on the X axis and the score on the Y axis.
All this chart says is that Verizon finally got a noteworthy phone and they just released it. This is normal. Who was expecting Apple to go up in popularity because of the Droid release? The data is more a reflection of timing than any significant shift in momentum.
Tech news is becoming as trivial as sports news. What will be next, minute by minute polls? C'mon Chris!
How can brand loyalties be measured in such a small time scale???
I'm not saying the Droid isn't selling well or appealing to the demographic Motorola was aiming for- but that chart smacks of bullshit. Really? They can accurately track "brand loyalty" over the course of just DAYS?! Really?! Cue the Mark Twain quote.
At first I thought this graph meant something, then I saw the time span.
It's got momentum alright... All three of those brands are headed DOWN.
Such a great opportunity to gloat in your anti-Appleism but jeezus, people, how much more bogus can a graph get? So, supposedly, this "brand loyalty" of male iPhone users over 18 plummeted from 50% (50 points? What is it?) to below 20% in 1 week?? I mean COME ON.
Just wait until HTC releases their first android 2.0 snapdragon device. Motorola makes and has always made some seriously ugly phones. Once a phone comes out that is just as capable as the Droid, and as beautiful as an HTC device (both the phone and the interface), the motodroid will be old news.
@truelove79 Am I the only person who dislikes HTC's custom UI? I mean, it's okay, but it adds bulk and slows things down without really being good-looking enough to justify it, and it has the even bigger issue of increasing the amount of time it takes for updates to trickle down to those devices. Such as the way that Google Navigation just came out for non-Droid devices, but not the HTC ones with fancy UIs.
No, you're not the only one, and I can understand where you're coming from. Though I do think the Sense UI adds value, at least to me. HTC makes some amazing widgets and enhancements to functional things like a custom keyboard, and many pre-installed applications that a standard android install just doesn't have and nothing on the market can compete with, at least not without paying.
Plus, if you don't like the Sense UI, you can always disable it using a home switcher app and you still have a beautiful, affordable phone with a comfortable form factor.
As the phones become more powerful, the extra resources taken up by the Sense UI will become less of an issue (it's not much of an issue now, the old android phones are underpowered to begin with, so it's not really the Sense UI's fault).
@truelove79 motorola draws in men cuz we are familiar with their devices. They manned our nextels. The one's we use out on the field. The walkie talkies we use at work. The headsets that are used in sporting events. Of course men prefer Motorola over pretty metrosexual iPhones.
@(Unverified) That's true. Manly men are only attracted to non-curvy things with hard lines and sharp angles like porsches and women.......oh wait.
I'm all for an industrial looking device, but the droid is just ugly.
Apple "loyalty" is probably dropping because more people keep buying them and then realizing theyre stuck with it for two years. After about 15 dropped calls today and watching my friend check his email where I can't even send a text, its time for me to jump ship myself.
It's been a peach iphone, but the novelty has worn off.
@HeyUnderpants, surely you must be talking about AT&T service, because people sure do love their iPhones. After all, iPhone ranked #1 in customer satisfaction amongst consumer and business users.
I've had more than my fair share of problems with the phone itself. Add that to ATT's glorious nightmare service and I just can't take it anymore.
I also think that people are more forgiving of the iphone for some reason. Like it locking up during phone calls is acceptable? No.
Either way, its definitely an icon worshipped by millions, unfortunately I can't be one of those millions anymore.
Uh -- Droid is a Verizon brand, not a Motorola brand. If the handsets bleated "BLURRR" this would be a strategic win for Motorola, otherwise they're just a to-be-commoditized OEM/ODM helping Verizon & Google deliver value-added mobile services.
now if only moto would continue pumping out QUALITY devices they would continue to enjoy their new found success.
I love my Droid and my Droid loves me.
I hope a few people that aren't iWashed, pick this up.. Competition is healthy for all of us.
@(Unverified): If you want competition, you would've demanded moto to release an unlocked Milestone in the US. Instead, you are acting the same way as the "iWashed", supporting a draconian wireless carrier with a provider locked handset that you cannot use anywhere else in the world. Grow up and demand freedom of choice, not picking 2 sides of the same coin.
LOL. Poor RIM.
So the news is really "Someone sent us this graph, we don't know what (if any) data is behind it, but there you go".
someone earlier posted "The Moto Droid is a much heavier and larger phone and just seems much more masculine (if a phone can be masculine, this is it)"
Are you implying that iphone owners are metrosexual?
I love my iPod touch, I love my iMac... and I love my Droid!
Or could it be the Moto simply has a tv commercial running this week and didn't the week before and thus this week their brand is more on the conscious of their test subjects? hmmmmm