First, let me say I'm not trying to start a Droid vs iPhone flame war. I currently have a Droid and work at a Verizon retailer and simply am trying to understand what it is about the iPhone that draws people to it like nothing else. Most people who come in are reasonable and will listen to you explain the differences, but there are also the people who come in and will literally ignore anything you have to say about the Droid. Not only is that semi-rude, but it should be in a consumer's best interest to get as much info as possible before making a purchase. I have three primary reasons for liking the Droid, which I will highlight below and then I'm curious to hear people's opinions.
1. Price
The iPhone comes in 16GB for $200 and 32GB for $300 and both are 3G. The Droid X (3G) has 24GB and is currently $150 and the Thunderbolt (4G) has 32GB and is $250. So you could get a Droid for $50 less than the $200 iPhone and it has more memory. Or you could get a 4G phone with the same amount of memory as the $300 iPhone and still pay $50 less. If you're adding insurance on the devices, the price difference is even bigger. Droids are $6.99/month and a $90 deductible. The iPhone is $10.99/month and $170 deductible for the 16GB and $200 for the 32GB. So if you keep it for two years and file one claim that's $258 for the Droid and $434 or $436 for the iPhone. In other words, if you're getting insurance, you're going to end up paying hundreds of dollars more for an iPhone.
2. Features
One of the biggest things I'll give Apple credit for with the iPhone is it's incredibly easy to learn and use. I have a few friends who have them and have played around with them quite a bit, even before Verizon got them. However, with simplicity it also sacrifices some depth. On the home screens of my Droid I have widgets to quickly texts my closest friends, weather, news feeds, calender etc. This gives me the information I use most as quickly as possible which is something the iPhone simply cannot currently do.
The app market on the iPhone is bigger, but the Android market is closing ground and a lot of the apps are available on both (Angry Birds, Words with Friends, etc). Open vs close platforms is a huge debate so let me give you an example of how a closed platform can be bad. My friend finds it hard to use the touch screen to take a picture so he wanted to download an app that uses the volume key instead. The problem is Apple has pulled all apps that allow you to do this, saying it would confuse the user which makes no sense because it would do exactly what the user was downloading it for. The open nature of the Droid could in theory leave it more open to viruses but I've sold hundreds of Droids and never have heard of one of my customers encountering this. If you stay within Google's app market it shouldn't be a problem.
Flash player is also a Droid advantage. This should be self explanatory, but for the uniformed it basically means there's a lot of videos you can watch on the Droid's web browser that you can't on the iPhone's.
3. Apple is bad for the consumer/small businesses
I could actually get into some trouble for revealing some of this, but screw it. Basically, Verizon is getting raped on the iPhone. In terms of how much Verizon is making off every iPhone, it is mind blowingly less than any other phone we sell. This has a trickle down effect to everybody involved starting with the consumer. Basically the way Verizon upgrades used to work is if you were a primary line, you got an upgrade after one year, instead of two, and got an additional $30 or $50 credit on a phone. As soon as the iPhone was released Verizon announced it was doing away with the both of those. Believe me, this is not a coincidence. This means that you now have to wait longer and pay more for a new phone.
The iPhone is also only sold at select retailers, and our store was lucky enough to be one because the company that owns ours has good sales numbers. In order to do that , there is a ridiculous set of rules we have to follow, mandated by Apple, that no other phone has. In addition to that, we can't actually physically carry the phone in our store, we have to special order it and our company is getting paid so little on it, we can only do it on primary lines or we will lose money. Even when I sell one on a primary line, I as a salesperson don't make any commission off it like I would with any other phone.
I'm not the type of person that will lie or try to sell somebody onto specific phones to maximize profit (much to the annoyance of some in my company) but there are definitely salespeople who will. I would try to sell the Droid over the iPhone regardless of these factors because I use and love it and stand behind the Droid. However, if somebody really has their heart set on an iPhone, I'm not going to force them into a Droid. But a setup like this is what creates situations for things like that to happen with the wrong salesperson.
4. Wrap Up
If you actually read all that, I'm impressed. I'm not saying the iPhone is a shitty phone. Far from it, it's pretty well made and easy to use. If you're a first time smartphone user and are intimidated by the Droid or are a Mac person who wants their phone to smoothly sync to what they already have, the iPhone makes sense. But given the fact that the Droids are cheaper, with more features, and all the shenanigans that Apple pulls, I don't get why there's so many people who have to have the iPhone and won't even consider a Droid. Thoughts?
Log in to comment