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Word on the street is that Verizon is planning to phase out the less than a month old Motorola Droid 2 over the coming weeks only to replace it outright with the Motorola Droid 2 World Edition. As of right now this report originating at BGR is only a rumor, but it makes a good deal of sense for the company. Why stock two versions of more or less the same phone when you could sell the World Edition alone? Sell it for $199.99 and you are sure to tick off a few early adopters, but there is no reason Big Red shouldn’t push it out for that price.
It seems those with the original Droid 2 might be holding on to a rare breed, and how does that make you feel?
[via BGR]
“It seems those with the original Droid 2 might be holding on to a rare breed, and how does that make you feel?”
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
is it just me, or does vzw discontinue phones rather quickly?
Yep.. Seems like they are discontinuing them much more quickly these days. Makes me wonder what will happen in 6 more months once I can upgrade my Eris..
@4gb, no I dont think its you. Its one thing to create a brand as they have, but I really feel with so many Droids out there, they are diluting it and so any sort of hickup in the supply chain(remember the Droid Incredible selling out?) looks as if they are discontinuing it. What they should have done is stuck with a high end and then one below that to carry the Droid name, instead of having this mish-mash of phones all called Droids.
@4gb no, it’s not just you. VZW sucks.
When is the world version slated to come out? My wife is going to get a Droid 2 in late October, but we’ll wait for the World Edition if that’s not too far around the corner.
I wonder if we can make money in a few years by holding onto old Android phones. I’m holding out hope that in 25 years my AMOLED Droid Incredible will be considered a classic in the way that Mustang convertibles are today. Maybe the same can be said for CDMA only Droid 2’s?
Maybe it will become a rare and valuable collector’s item. HA!
I have the droid 2 and could care less. I don’t travel out of the country so the world edition won’t offer me anything new.
Actually I can’t stand how fast Motorola & HTC phones keep.coming out. You don’t get a chance to enjoy the current one that are out. Like the other commented stated “the brand is being diminished”. After a while no one will be excited when a new Android phone comes out. At least A gives a little time in between new iPhones.
Who’s in charge at Big Red? This (if indeed, it is true)is a display of poor executive, marketing, and strategic skills usually not found in industry leaders. It’s a slap in the face to the people who buy their products and who are expecting solid value and long-term satisfaction for their money. It’s corporate arrogance at a new level, even for American companies. If it’s true…
I just hope that my Droid2 will continue to be supported with updates.
And lol at the user name “pecksniffian” below. Has to be an O’Reilly fan ;)
@Pecksniffian
Ha! A slap in the face? I was was a satisfied Verizon customer who was sold the BB Storm 1. That was a slap in the face followed by a kick in the nuts. However, it is a world phone, and I have been waiting for an Android world phone. The D2 WE might be just the thing to keep me with V.
Hopefully that means when I break my new D2 in 8 months I get a free upgrade to the world edition. Double bonus.
Just like all electronics and manufactures must have the greatest and latest technology but I agree it seems vzw truly had not a fkn clue when it comes to marketing strategy usa there commercials get it done but y advertise when 2 weeks later your investing in the next big phone
Smh…I can believe it. I have a Droid X, which is hot right now, but in a month or two peopl might not be talking about it. Damn shame…it would be a lot better if they let the phones run their course.
Um, so, Motorola offers VZW an upgrade they can sell for the same price and VZW should pass so as not to offend the original D2 buyers? Don’t take it so personally. Who’d be crying foul if they DIDN’T offer it?
They are running their course, do you wish new computers only came out once a year? Why would you want to slow down the advancement of tech?
Is there any difference between the two?
Does that mean that they will no longer support it, or does it mean that vzw will just stop selling the device?
its not a big deal. The phone will continue to be supported. The phones are basically the same. If you don’t travel it is no big deal at all. If you do travel outside the US then you probably already have a world phone for that.
Just because you don’t have the newest kick butt device doesn’t mean your device is done. The orginal droid is on 2.2 now. The eris got up to 2.1. We have an active dev group that will always update our phones if our carriers don’t.
If you bought a device just because you wanted to feel better then others and you want to be the cool kid then get over yourself. If your device still does what you want it to do and gives you features you love. I think you will be fine.
What is the point? Unless you are rich, you will NEVER want to use an Android device out of the country. Way too expensive, unless you only turn it on for the short few minutes you need to make a call.
Not even rich folks will be concerned, since they will just buy this one too.
World Android phone equals = screwed phone bill.
The comparison to computers fails when you consider that most computers a couple of years old can still install the newest operating systems without resorting t to custom hacked OSs. This is not in the case for phones.
^^^ Rapid obsolescence sucks, but it sucks even harder when you’re unfortunate enough to own one of the few Android phones that bends over backwards to lock down its bootloader, so when Verizon says it’s EOL… they really *mean it*, and have the technical means of enforcing that decreed obsolescence. :-(
That said, would the world edition actually have different hardware? I’m pretty sure Qualcomm (among others) has at least one chipset that can do BOTH CDMA2000 and UMTS/WCDMA. It only needs additional chips to do legacy GSM. If that’s the case, and the Droid2 already uses it (but lacks the GSM module), a firmware update would enable it to roam anyplace where UMTS is available (ie, it would work in London or Paris, but not anywhere rural). If that’s the case, and a firmware update enabled UMTS on the Droid2, 99.9% of the Americans who bought a Droid2 would never notice the GSM module’s absence, even if they DID travel to Europe, because it would still work just about everywhere they cared about (Let’s face it… if urban-only coverage weren’t “good enough” for most users, Metro PCS and T-Mobile(US) would have gone out of business *years* ago)
@rushmore – that’s is patently untrue. I have an Android device, granted, it’s GSM, but it did allow me to buy a SIM card on my visit to Singapore, have unlimited access to a super fast urban 3G network, have maps running the whole time (and have my battery die just as quickly).
If this phone is a dual CDMA and GSM, I’d be hoping there’s no lock on it so I can get one to use here in Australia where we’re all GSM/3G across the country. The CDMA would be great for me to have when I do travel, thus purchase an ad-hoc visitor subscription for the duration I’m visiting.
This is why you don’t early adopt. Wait to see if there are any bugs or defects. Wait to hear about any upgrades/updates. The reason VZW and others release products like this is that many people are tech-chasers and will go buy the latest and greatest. If you would stick with your product a little longer, they’d support it a little longer. They support whatever brings in the most revenue.
mike – you say they are “just about the same”. well yeah, but the kernel might be different. If Verizon decides to not update the Droid 2 to Gingerbread you are SOL.
If only there was a way to install custom kernels so someone could port Droid 2 world edition kernel… d’oh!
+1 for HTC/Samsung
It really is not a big deal that models of phones change. Look at computers that are sold. Computer models change quicker than phone models.
They were stupid in the first place to make nearly two identical phones with the only difference being in the cellular technology.
If they continue this trend then they should break the contract and allow early upgrades. At no additional cost because of their. Decision! !!
Yeah they should have waited and just released the droid 2 world edition and not two of the same phone with one being a world phone.
Hmmm… sounds like Android phones have a worse shelf life than that gallon of milk I bought at the .99 cent store.
Love my D2, don’t travel much outside the USA. If the phone generated a luke warm response, why is this format now the world edition and not the droid x. Ha d2 forever.
The GSM slot on this upcoming droid would allow it to use Verizon’s new 4G network since the new LTE network is GSM based. Correct me if I’m wrong though.
I’d like to get on Android and Droid seems to be the right choice but AT&T sucks with teh selection. Verizion isn’t exactly an angel either. Multi-million dollar refunds for “hidden charges”? At least, they’re doing something but since 2007…You can’t win with capitalism.