Verizon is ramping up the testosterone in its newest ad campaign against the Big Man on Campus, Apple’s iPhone. Falling just short of saying other phones are for girlie-men, Verizon’s ads tout their phone’s “racehorse taped to a Scud missile” speed as opposed to that of a “digitally clueless beauty pageant queen.”
The enemy phone, never mentioned by name, is briefly shown in two scenes. In one, young people gaze at it shrinking in a display case before they are all engulfed in a blast of flame. In another, the device erupts into something that looks like a mixture of cement and milk.
The Droid is made by Motorola and distributed in the United States by Verizon.
The ad blasts a hole in speculation that Verizon wants to be the next iPhone carrier when Apple’s contract with AT&T expires next year.
“We haven’t heard about any overtures from Verizon to become iPhone’s new network,” said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst for mobile devices for IDC.
“What Verizon has been doing with the Droid is to wisely position it as the alternative to the iPhone. Part of that strategy to highlight some of the shortcomings of the [iPhone] and AT&T network, such as the lack of 3G coverage,” or fast data speed.
Another shortcoming, said Llamas, is the iPhone’s inability to run third party multiple applications concurrently. “Verizon Wireless is promoting the fact that Droid is capable of doing these things,” he said.
No one expects the Droid to make a dent in iPhone sales in the immediate future. “It’s not going to happen in Q4,” said Llamas. “But Apple has lost a lot of mileage already, so to speak, and Droid has just ramped up its campaign.”
Llamas sees the iPhone gaining some ground as a consumer oriented device…