I read something yesterday that rankled me. In an interview with the New York Times, Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein knocked the Motorola Droid, questioning its mainstream market appeal and dismissing the device as a techie phone. The Droid gracefully enabled me to use the same applications I use on my laptop for work and personal use, with little drop off in user experience. How is that not a sign of a great consumer device? Isn't Apple's iPhone touted for the same? What is a techie phone? Meanwhile, Google is reportedly building the Google Phone we've all been reading about for two years.
News Analysis: I read something yesterday that rankled me. In an interview with the New York Times,
Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein
knocked the Motorola Droid, questioning its mainstream market appeal and
dismissing the device as a techie phone.
"Android, and the Droid in particular, are designed for
the techie audience," Rubinstein told the Times. "We are doing a more general
product that helps people live their lives seamlessly."
I spent this past weekend with the Droid, courtesy of its
carrier Verizon Wireless. As you can see from my
review comparing it to the Eris, I found it intuitive and easy to use -- easier
in some ways than the Eris because it offers different options for typing (physical
keyboard, plus touch screen) and snapping photos (can be done physically, as
well as on the touch screen.)
But I'm no techie, at least I don't consider myself one. When I hear
"techie," I turn around and look for my IT guy, or a programmer -- real
geeks who write software.
I consume Web services from Google, Facebook, Twitter and
others like most everyone else in high-tech media, but I don't code. I still
found it really easy to get comfortable with the Droid, no doubt in part
because of it offers me access to the same Web services I already use.
The Droid gracefully enabled me to use the same
applications on use on my laptop for work and personal use, with little drop
off in user experience. How is that not a sign of a great consumer device? Isn't
Apple's iPhone touted for the same?
What is a techie phone? By techie phone, does he mean
that it enables me to use a lot of interesting applications?
Well, it certainly does that -- and pretty well I might
add. In addition to Gmail, YouTube, Facebook, fewer things are as liberating as
getting turn-by-turn instructions from your smartphone instead of your Garmin
GPS. (this, by the way, lends credence to my colleague Jim Rapoza's assertion
that single purpose devices, such as the Amazon Kindle, are doomed. For more on
that, I'll be reviewing the TwitterPeek soon).
Allegedly, 250,000 units of the Droid sold in its first week. Does that mean 250,000 techies bought it?
Unlikely.
Email
Print
