Hey Verizon, Your Hub Needs Android
I thought Verizon had a brilliant idea in trying to reinvent the desk phone. They did. The company launched the Verizon Hub earlier this year with the idea that desk phones are still desired and finally – after a decade of sitting idle – needed to be updated to fit our modern technological needs. And who knows, perhaps they could even do something innovative with the device.
Unfortunately it cost $200 plus a $35/month service plan not to mention the vast majority of people said that it sucked… and sucked bad. Throw poor marketing into the equation and guess what you’ve got? A discontinued product. That’s right… Verizon Wireless is no longer offering the hub.
Correct me if I’m wrong but Verizon is CLEARLY working on Android with 4 phones in the pipeline. They also mentioned way back in April that they would be adding an “applications market” to the desk phone. They probably weren’t thinking of Android in this instance and more likely referring to their soon-to-be-launched VCast Apps program. Great idea, wrong formula. Add Android to the Hub and you’ve got yourself an instant winner.
Smaller, competing companies are already working on “Android Hub” type desk phones (see above) and other household gadgets. We’re now seeing secondary product types close to consumer ready such as the ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet and ODROID Gaming Device. The ARCHOS even has its own version of Android Market (AppsLib) planned to organize applications that are meant especially for use on a tablet.
So if you Verizon folks are listening, you should be working on your Verizon Android Hub right now because:
- Marketed properly it could be a huge success
- If you don’t do it first, T-Mobile will
You could even settle for 2nd, just get it done, k?
