Verizon Wireless' much-publicized ad campaign for the Droid is premised on pointing out things you can do with the Motorola smartphone that you can't with an iPhone, like use
a physical keyboard or a 5-megapixel camera.
But the Droid hasn't matched the Apple device in sales at launch. The Droid sold an estimated 100,000 units in the first two days following its
Nov. 6 release-a solid start for the much-anticipated phone. But nowhere near the 1 million both the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3G S sold in their opening weekends, according to a post on TheAppleBlog.
A more fitting comparison, it notes, might be with the original iPhone, since it
was also offered on a single wireless network in the U.S. and not offered in multiple countries like the upgraded iPhone versions that would follow. It also didn't have the benefit of thousands of
apps in the App Store, which wouldn't launch until the 3G model came out.
Even so, the 100,000 Droids fell short of the 270,000 original iPhones that sold at launch. TheAppleBlog concludes
the Droid is more of a Palm "Pre-killer" than an iPhone-killer since the Pre sold about 50,000 units in its launch weekend. Is the comparison of initial handset sales unfair, instead of waiting to see
how the Droid sells over time?
How the phone's sales hold up in the coming months will be more important than how it moved out of the gate. But Verizon did heavily promote the Droid before
launch and invited direct comparison with the iPhone, and continues to do so as the Droid campaign unfolds. So early sales provide a first glimpse of consumer demand. The results were good, but
nothing likely to send tremors through Apple headquarters.