The snarky marketers at Verizon Wireless have come up with a new potshot to make fun of Apple’s iPhone 4 antenna issue and boost the already popular Motorola Droid X in the same advertisement.
Droid Life said a new full-page ad for the Droid X will appear in major newspapers July 29, nearly two weeks after the Droid X debuted and one month after its first ad dinging the popular new iPhone 4.
The ad, coming nearly two weeks after Apple CEO Steve Jobs pledged to rid the iPhone 4 of its attenuation issue by giving free bumper cases to all those who purchased the phone, leads with the obvious dig “No Jacket Required” at the top of a specification picture of the Droid X.
Verizon went on to pledge:
“At Motorola, we believe a customer shouldn’t have to dress up their phone for it to work properly. That’s why the Droid X comes with a dual antenna design. The kind that allows you to hold the phone any way you like to make crystal clear calls without a bulky phone jacket. For us it’s just one of those things that comes as a given when you’ve been making mobile phones for over 30 years.”
The tenor of the teasing isn’t much different from the first ad from earlier this month:
“And most importantly, it comes with a double antenna design. The kind that allows you to hold the phone any way you like and use it just about anywhere to make crystal clear calls. You have a voice. And you deserve to be heard.”
Apple launched its iPhone 4 case program July 24 after customers complained that touching the iPhone 4’s exterior antenna rim hindered its reception.
While the program is a gesture of good will designed to appease the more than 2 million people who purchased the iPhone 4, Jobs didn’t endear himself to media and some users with his non-contrite attitude in discussing the issue.
Jobs claimed attenuation snafus extended to RIM and downplayed the issue on the whole as a media-driven circus.
The resulting media circus nicely set up Verizon’s latest ad for its popular Droid X smartphone.
The Android 2.1 device with a multimedia bent is currently sold out through at least Aug. 4 for those who didn’t preorder it before it went on sale two weeks ago.
The Droid X isn’t perfect. Some users have found the device’s 4.3-inch screen flickers. Motorola said it has fixed the issue for future devices.