eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
The Motorola Droid is doing just great, Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha told members of the media after a presentation in Chicago June 9, according to a report from Reuters.
The well-publicized and Android-running Motorola Droid proved a great success for the Verizon Wireless network, following its fourth-quarter 2009 debut. But as any starlet can attest, there’s always a fresher face coming up from behind, and in Moto’s case that spotlight stealer was the HTC Droid Incredible, which made an April 29 debut on Verizon and has been described by some analysts as being the Apple iPhone’s first real competition-the industry’s highest compliment.
Facing a shortage of screens from Samsung, however, Moto is having a hard time keeping Verizon stock room shelves full, and Jha used the opportunity in front of reporters to turn a potentially frustrating situation into a bragging right.
“[Droid] sales are going extremely well. If I could build more I’d sell more,” Jha said, according to Reuters.
Verizon, reporting its first-quarter 2010 earnings April 22, seconded the success it has seen with the Motorola Droid, reporting that it sold even more Droids in the first quarter of 2010 than in the holiday-driven fourth quarter of 2009. Speaking to the carrier’s growing “Android franchise,” Verizon CFO John Killian said there would be even more talk of Android in the months to come, particularly “with an important launch for us coming up shortly, with the HTC Incredible-which the early reviews of have been extremely positive.”
Jha additionally told reporters that Motorola plans to roll out two to four phones in 2010 that will feature front-facing cameras, which can be used for video calling. The technology is apparently a concession to popular demand, with Reuters reporting that Jha said that he personally has “never been a great believer” in a demand for the technology.
In 2005, Nokia offered at least one smartphone model, the 6680, with two cameras-the front-facing one with a lower resolution and intended for video conferencing. The feature, however, didn’t pique public interest until recently, and both the HTC Evo 4G, on the Sprint network, and the newly introduced Apple iPhone 4 feature dual cameras.