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Only a few months ago, the best way to describe Motorola’s mobile-market health was “handset division woes” – seriously… just google it. But with the launch of the Motorola Droid the company – at least on the surface – seems to be flourishing. Om Malik from GigaOM just published word from Mark McKechnie of Broadpoint AmTech suggesting Motorola will have sold 600,000 Motorola Droids by the end of this year.
Motorola also has the CLIQ, their first Android phone which launched on T-Mobile, and that doesn’t seem to be doing too bad either. Combine CLIQ/Dexter sales on T-Mobile, Orange, Telefonica and American Movil (400,000) with those Droid numbers and Motorola will have pushed over a million Android Phones this year alone – with most of them coming in a 2-month period.
Next year is looking even rosier – the same company estimates 10 MILLION Motorola Android Phones will be sold in 2010 and with an average price of $286 – we’re talking about 2.86 billion in sales of Motorola Android Phones alone. Wow… just, wow. Of course these are all estimated guesses guesstimates by industry analysts but still, you’ve got to be impressed. I am kind of curious as to whether those Droid stats include the Motoroa MILESTONE, the European version of the Droid that just launched on O2 Germany. But either way… itDoesn’t really matter, the numbers are pretty darn staggering.
For some reason I highly doubt Motorola is very eager to sell their handset division at this particular moment in time.
600k phones, holy crap that’s a lot of Droid. Will this phone be on the same level of the iPhone?
So when do we get to see the GSM version of Droid in the USA?
Motorola should keep making Droid version, like the iPhone, 2G, 3G, 3GS.
Motorola is in a position to give Android an identity, which is what android lacks.
If done right the Droid vs iPhone will be like Windows vs Mac.
I have my…one.
And I love it!!!
In order for Motorola to start selling phones they needed to stop making their own software – which always sucked. I got Razr and Razr 2 and promised myself not to get another Motorola ever again, but here I am – an iDroid.
Again, let’s not jump the gun and accept these analysts’ estimates. I’d like to see Android do well (waiting for one on AT&T…..), but I’ll feel better about the Droid and Android in general when we see actual sales figures!
600k… i hope motorola has built enough so they can sell it to europeans !
Any chance of them releasing it on Sprint?
@jeff
completely agreed. droid is the face of android. and IMHO it is a pretty handsome face. dont get me wrong, i love my g1 to death…but it did not achieve any wide spread hype. the g1 was basically the big toe that is dipped in the water before the cannon ball is performed.
i love my DROID!!!
Droid is a VZW licensed trademark. So it’s not going to be Moto only brand name.
@SK DROID is not a VZW trademark. Lucas Films aka George Lucas aka Star Wars.
no doubt about it, the Droid rocks ! But, I’ll never sell my G1 !
Wanna get the milestone
I think it’s a bit premature to count next year’s chickens (pardon the idiom-mangling). Let’s see what happens when:
1. other Android phones are released with just as powerful processors, e.g. Xperia, Dragon, Liquid.
2. other Android 2.0 phones are released.
While the Xperia may not be competitive pricewise, HTC’s stuff will be competitive, plus they have their Sense UI, which is the bee’s knees. :-)
Yea, it may be a bit premature. However, Motorola is a name most of the public are familiar with, and they (Verizon + Moto) are marketing the hell out of the droid.
HTC makes great phones, but really, the average person doesn’t know much about HTC at all. I certainly wouldn’t hesitate to grab one over a Moto (though i did get a droid), but the ad campaign + brand name awareness are definitely in the corner of Droid vs the HTC gear. The Sony I don’t see selling in massive numbers stateside due to the expected high price it will command.
Ok ok. 600 k Droids, not bad… but a lot of these people are still in the 30 day window, given the droid was just released like 10 days ago… how many will be returned? that’s the number I want. not that it matters cause i’m pretty sure the phones are bought by the carrier, then sold to the consumer, hence the ECF.
2010 is the year for android not 2009, don’t be fooled by holiday season crap.
But if you like it then hey, I’m happy for you! and i’m jealous, Because I can’t find an android phone that I want yet…. I hate to desire things in such.
Bring the damn thing to more countries and you’ll sell them all as well.
600K PROJECTED sales (a number pulled from a convenient orafice)
Some iPhone killer. Apple sold more than that in a week. Motorola should stick to what it does best– which is… well… hmmm. Going out of business?
Who cares about the iPhone? Droid is all about picking up developers, developers, developers and not the teeny boppers (who will switch once Flash is released to every phone *except* iPhone)
It is not an iPhone killer.
It is as much of an iPhone killer as the new Macs are Windows killers.
It’s just an awesome phone.
The Milestone is only available in Germany so far, once it gets rolled out to Italy, UK, France, etc. and to South America, expect the sales to really get going!
What about the keyboard?
From two minutes of play in the store – it feels awful – the only reason I am not jumping on the DROID bandwagon. I want a physical keyboard but why did Motorola jump the shark with this one?
Motorola closed down their business two years ago in Norway, so I probably have to settle with a english keyboard, or if im lucky, swedish or danish. But WHEN!? ARRGH THE AGONY!
the sales are going to plateau as soon as the dragon-based devices are released. when lte is rolled out this phone becomes obsolete.
@BearsSuperfan – The iPhone 3GS launched in 8 countries and on multiple carriers. Also many buyers were 1st gen upgraders. Your comparison is idiotic.
Thing is the HTC Passion is really the Google phone to get in the next few months. It might see a tag over the price of the Droid (maybe $250) making it a very expensive phone so the Droid might end up still selling well.
I have the droid! Its hands down the best phone I’ve ever had!
Sent from my droid :)
Hi all. I like the Droid Eris from HTC much better. And yes Droid is a Trademark name for there VZW Handsets with android on it. They Paid Lucus for the right to use the Name Droid. So you will Only see “Droid” phones on VZW. It is there brand. Look it up for your self at USPO.org. ( US pattent office. Peacre.
finally for once we get the smart phone first for once insted of europe like the dream, magic, hero and other phones. DROID >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> iphone
@ Tom Robson
i thought it wasn’t available yet in germany despite the news ? If it is, i am interested.
Any idea on how much the speaker failures will cost. I relaize that MOT hasn’t figured out the cause yet, but does anyone have a guess on the cost to replace the defective units?
I love my Droid! I just downloaded an ereader for it from ereader.com. That was the only thing I was missing that I had on my old Motorola Q. Did I mention this is a great phone.
i like the Droid..
waiting for Asia market,INDONESIA especially..
i never get issue come tu here.
CRAP IM STILL WAITING FOR A UK RELEASE :(