By The Motorola Droid will probably be announced on October 28th, but it seems 3rd party retailer Best Buy Mobile is already stocking up on the device. According to internal Best Buy screenshots obtained by PhoneArena, a Verizon phone listed as the Motorola Sholes (yeah mmk) will be arriving to Best Buy on Saturday, October 24th and will cost consumers a pretty penny – $599:
Let’s get a few things clear:
- Classified as rumor
- If it’s true it DOES NOT mean Best Buy will start selling the Droid on the 24th… only that they’ll be receiving shipments of the phone
- If they DO start getting shipments on the 24th, we’re definitely going to be seeing more spy shots/videos before the 28th
- Feel free to anonymously send us those spy shots/videos ;)
What do you think folks… $599 without a contract – go or no go? What do you think that says about the Verizon 2-year contract with rebate price? Step right up and take your guess!
Doesn’t matter, it will probably be $199 with a 2 year contract. I can’t see it being any higher or lower. Just get me one in my hands please.
honestly there is not a very big market for this phone being over $250.00! If verizon jacks up the price then I dont see droid selling much, & why would they not want it to sell?!? Look at all other android phones out now.. they are all around $179.00 – $200.00! That’s a good price for them and since droid is suppose to be the BEST android yet I think $250.00 will be the price point (You will always pay more for the best when it is first released)If by chance this phone is more expensive then it is good news for people like me that are wanting to get the verizon htc android instead.. either way I would say its a win win for everyone
$599??? Oh sh**! I was really hoping for around $200 but now I’m not sure it will drop that much on-contract.
Guessing it will probably be a few $$ below the 2-yr contract price for the iPhone (seeing as that’s who they’re squarely and unapologetically targeting) … combine that with my new-every-2 credit and I’m sold!
in germany we hope to get the droid at this price.
the iphone costs twice the price of the droid here.
if it will have the same price, i buy it without a contract
There is no way I am paying that much for a phone. With a 2 year contract and the credit towards a new phone I won’t’ pay over $250.
Too bad Geek Squad never hired me, I could attempt to get some more insight on this ordeal, and maybe get a phone to play with while I was at it. ):
It’s not going to be more than $200 with a 2 year contract
@frank- the verizon htc android is suppose to be great.. people aren’t talking about it bc of all the hype with droid. The Sense UI is better in my opinion than what I have seen for the droid (moto blur). I know that the htc will be at like $200.00 or under because that is what all of the other htc phones have been sold for.. check out htc’s website for all of the other phones they have
lol anyone who thought it would be less than that outright was kidding themselves…
i suspect Sony Ericsson X3/X10 (rachael) price will top that easily :)
@medicdave
Good call on the iPhone. This is (as we all know now) the supposed iPhone Killer. Not going to be much of an iPhone killer if it is $200 more expensive.
i would cancel my VZW contact and pay the ETF, then sign up for a new 2 year contract if Droid price is < $250 for 2 year contract
I’m not the main line on my Verizon Contract, so I’d only get the new contract $100 off….$499 is pretty steep! I’d say this would drop my probability of buying one to about 50%
The only price I’m concerned about is the subsidized two year price. My limit there is $200.
As a point of comparison, from Verizon the HTC Imagio is $579.00 retail and $199.00 with a 2-year contract.
Silly commenters… this is EXACTLY the right price. Go google how much an iPhone costs without a contract. (waits..) Yeah, that’s right! 8G is *gasp* $599, with their 16G $699. And the $599 one is $199 with a contract. It’s amazing how much we get for signing a contract, but if you do the math, that $200 droid is going to cost $720 in data charges over 2 years more than the $200 we plop down.
Break my contract, $250, HELL NO! I’ll add another line, move my number to the Droid, shelf my old 755 *cringe* with the new number ’till march, then cancel that line.
Well usually the 2 year contract price is around half so I am going to say $299. At that price it better come with a 16gb memory card, since 32gb cards arn’t out yet that I have seen. However, there is a rumor floating around that the max will be 64gb on the droid, which would be pretty sweet. The Cliq is 32gb max so thats a good indication that the Droid will have atleast that. I think if it is $299 with a contract that there will be a mail in rebate on launch of around $50 dollars. I am good at talking to people so I am calling best buy and getting as much info as I can. Maybe I will float a call over to Verizon as well. I will give details asap.
my guess is to buy it after XMASS price-crazyness
CYA
If you break your contract, Verizon wont let you sign up again for 6months. I know from experience with my last phone.
I would pay it. Easily.
Just bring it to Europe!
I wouldn’t pay the $600, but I certainly would do research to find a plan that gives me the cheapest way to get one!
Bring this thing to Europe!
“Built in 5.0 MP Camera – for clear, still photos”
Hahah, I sure hope so. On the HTC Hero, the camera’s next to useless (also 5.0 MP) — every picture is blurry unless the objects being photographed don’t move for 5 seconds. Would be awesome if they improved the Android camera drivers (and pushed the update to the Hero as well).
we need it at this price in Europe.
$599 w/o a contract seems right. After all, the HTC Hero sells for $599 w/o a contract at Best Buy, but is $179 on contract.
I can see $200 w/contract on the Droid since it has better specs and is on Verizon which is supposed to be the best network.
@tke789 Good point
$299 with contract – Verizon is a price-gauging biznitch.
Verizon is typically higher on their handset prices. I’m guessing the subsidized price (2 year contract) is going to be $299. They’re also pretty proud of their network…so they’re going to gouge their customers for this one. Also, since they are taking the “open” stance now (believe it when I see it) they may even raise the data plan, knowing that users are going to be downloading some data intensive Android Marketplace apps.
If this phone is any kind of success, watch how fast Verizon’s network slows to a crawl just like AT&T.
Verizon is typically higher on their handset prices. I’m guessing the subsidized price (2 year contract) is going to be $299. They’re also pretty proud of their network…so they’re going to gouge their customers for this one. Also, since they are taking the “open” stance now (believe it when I see it) they may even raise the data plan, knowing that users are going to be downloading some data intensive Android Marketplace apps.
If this phone is any kind of success, watch how fast Verizon’s network slows to a crawl just like AT&T.
Looks like a nice phone, but with the much higher cost of Verizon service compared to T-Mo service, I’ll prolly stick with my G1 for now.
so many complaints, yet North American consumers always have the best deal. Try living in Asia (a foreigner in Asia for that matter) and getting a Western phone. Some phone companies wont even let me have a contract and the ones that do require me to pay for the phone outright and sign for a minimum of 2 years.
2 year contract and NO discount on the phone price. The only saving grace is monthly plans. Unlimited everything plan (calls and net access) on an iPhone is about $40 Us/month
Man, that’s $100 more than the Hero is listed at for no contract. Think people would really pay $279 for this phone with contract renewal??
Considering how pricey Verizons plans are, the Droid is WAY over priced.
what LTL freight company or parcel company makes normal deliveries on a saturday?
there is not enough yet to demand special deliveries like this.
especially for a case or 2 or 3.
before they are prized personal hardware, they are just boxes on the move.
To take a shot at the iPhone in the TV add and then price it over 2 bills would be bat sh*t crazy. Would love to see VZW sell it for $189 and revamp their Data plans. This isn’t your typical new phone with VZW where they try and rake their current customers over the coals for the product. This is a phone that will get a large portion of new customers and an even larger portion of current customers to jump up to a data plan.
“Store contact information with the microSD card slot”???
Indeed, the 16GB of flash probably won’t be enough to hold a list of phone numbers.
I’m going to go ahead and assume this was written by a Best Buy employee who knows not what they are doing.
There is no way they can charge more than an iPhone 3Gs. OK, they can charge whatever they want, but they will be severely hurting themselves by trying to charge higher than iPhones. So that would put it at $199-$299 with a 2/yr contract.
Stop freaking out, the price wont be more than $199. the only thing Verizon has priced over $200 is a netbook that was $149 last week and the Casio EXILIM which has been priced over $200 since its been released. Verizon doesn’t care about moving handsets it cares about extending contracts and adding new users. Knowing Verizon, it will drop at $199.99($149.99 for b2b) and then drop the price or offer a special, such as BOGO, after about a month and half. The only reason it would be more is if Motorola charges them a ridiculous amount for it, which would be stupid since it is sink or swim time for them and they cant afford for this to flop.
Over here in france, iphone 3gs 8gb costs 249 euros with a 27 euros monthly plan with unlimited tv, web and mail but limited to only 90 minutes of talk.
.
I was hoping to be able to get the droid at bouygues telecom too… for under 300 euros. Unfortunately sfr (vodafone) may get it and sell it with a 45euros plan. There will be a 4th mobile carrier in january 2010. French carriers have been fined for price fixing. Prices can’t drop quickly enough.
link for the french iphone plan for comparison:
http://www.laboutique.bouyguestelecom.fr/les-forfaits-iphone.html
.
Still no date for europe release of the droid ?
@NVC – you should download SnapPhoto – it can replace the default camera and it has a stability sensor. It takes much better pictures and adds some other features as well. I definitely recommend it.
@rockstar323 – HTC Imagio™
Compare up to 3 phones HTC Imagio™
4.5 out of 5
Read Reviews (107)
* Camera 5.0 Megapixel
* Bluetooth
* VZ Navigator
* Visual Voice Mail
* Global Ready
* V CAST Mobile TV
2-yr Contract Price $299.99
Online Discount – 100.00
Your Price $199.99
Windows Mobile® 6.5!
….They do charge more than most carriers, the Omnia ran $299 for a year. I would love to be wrong because I’m going to buy one, but not at $300. Verizon has only recently released the Tour and Storm from their chains, and allowed them to use their on-board GPS. I would be surprised to see a $100 discount right off the bat too.
Here’s another, and it’s not a smartphone : Casio® EXILIM
Compare up to 3 phones Casio® EXILIM
3.5 out of 5
Read Reviews (85)
* Camera 5.1 Megapixel
* Dashboard
* Field Force Manager
* V CAST Music with Rhapsody (subscription, wireless and PC downloads)
* VZ Navigator
* Visual Voice Mail
2-yr Contract Price $329.99
Online Discount – 50.00
Your Price $279.99
Add to Cart
Just have flash player is all im sayin.
@DonnyIrish
the Imagio has been $199.99 since it was released and due tom my company’s discount it has been $149.99 when it dropped and currently $99. the online price is the same you would pay in the store or through upgrade over the phone, except instead of a mail in rebate you get the online discount instantly.
GPS is unlocked on the Touch Pro 2 and the Imagio, you can also download updates to unlock it on most of the other PDAs but not really sure why you threw that in there. I said in my previous post that the EXILIM was priced over $200 so not why you threw that in there either.
Basically my point, which i thought i made in the previous post, is Verizon will not sell this thing for over $199.99. They dont make their money from selling handsets they make it from the contracts and since they will almost certainly require a data package that is about another $700 over 2 years if they require the standard $29.99. Which means they can sell them at a lower cost.
I think selling this for anything more than $200 would be a mistake on Verizon’s part. Just reading the comments here it’s pretty obvious that a lot of people are willing to pay up to $200 for a device like this… after that you start loosing a lot of customers. And most of the people posting comments here are technical people and gadget fans. We are the early adopters right here and we have spoken. As much as I love Android and as excited as I am for this phone, I don’t think Android has the ‘coolness’ factor Apple had with the I-Phone… people will not be camping out for 2 weeks to get this thing. Anything over $200 would be bad news for this device and Motorolla and Verizon.. and Android.
$599 is about what I would expect to pay for a brand new smartphone without a contract. I paid $489 for the BB Storm when it first landed. I paid about $550 for that god-awful Samsung WinMo brick phone a few years back. *shrug* I’m more than willing to drop $599 on the Droid. It just looks amazing to me.
$599! I don’t think so. I’ll do my online shopping for phones elsewhere!
if we have info to share where do we email it to?
$599US is better than I expected … I hope that is unlocked. Try living in Australia where we are highly unlikely to see an Android Phone released anytime soon.
Soooo glad I am going to be in North America for xmas. It means I can get one to bring home with me :)
Sooooo, most smart phones are expensive without a contract. Palm Pre started at 749.99 but may have dropped after launch. Freaking out about 599.99 seems a little paranoid, or maybe cynical. But is sort of the language most fluently spoken by tech-site posters.
iPhones have a similarly unpleasant price w/out contract – up to $699.99 – and they’re fragile. I’m in the “industry” and hate how often I encounter an iPhone addict who has returned to replace, at full price, their “baby” because the screen seems to be incompatible with pockets, extreme temperature & the concept of using a battery for power.
Droid? It’ll be cool. It’ll be somebodies favorite mobile device EVER while someone right next to them absolutely hates it.
A little secret though, APPLE will be the iPhone killer. They’re quickly becoming a BIG company and they aren’t good at that, no practice. That’s what we love(d) about them.
I just did
Here’s my take on this.. if Verizon wants to crush AT&T’s iphone in terms of sales/subscriber numbers. The $70 plan should be UNLIMITED EVERYTHING: talk, text, im, data, web, etc. Instead, you’ll probably get old rates of 500-1000 minutes, a 5gb capped data plan, and if your lucky unlimited text– plus all the post paid taxes & fees chunked on at the end. Whereas their prepaid offering with a crappy phone: $45 a month (straight talk)! The price point seems right for what the phone is.. $600 w/o contract, then $200/w contract. That’s a $300 subsidy for remaining in contract for 2 years. Still, Verizon should be more generous with it’s current subscriber base if they want to move up to this phone. Subscribers should be $150 off for 1 year extension of contract or $300 for 2 years. The phone’s features are what keeps a few million subscribers hooked to post-paid accounts, so if you want to build a subscriber base compared to what the Iphone did for AT&T, you have to price your services competitively beat AT&T at their game– afterall, you don’t want masses of defections of Droid phones going over to other carriers as what happened to AT&T.
I should try this phone
This phone is the most awesome phone I’ve ever had and Way kicks the IDon’ts butt… and I got it for 149.99 before my contract was up…
Droid for $399, but no mention of 16GB pre installed card @
http://esaleincshop.com/Motorola-A855-DROID-Smartphone-Black-Unlocked-p5.html
Anyone bought anything from esaleincshop.com?
The prices seem way to good to be true.
Thanks,
James
http://esaleincshop.com Site seems to be a scam
Register only few days back
http://www.wmtips.com/tools/info/?url=http://esaleincshop.com/
to some guy here
Abuzar Mian ([email protected])
+1.4109264895
Fax: 1.
1401 Lincoln Woods Drive
Catonsville, MD 21228
US
It is not searchable in Google, Bing, Yahoo
this is very strange don’t buy.
I found this on Google Product but got removed
More Info:
http://www.aboutus.org/eSaleIncShop.com
http://www.whois.net/whois/esaleincshop.com
I have also written a email to them. Will keep you guys updated
too much especially for a contract
oh…no…
the price ($599) is too high
i think $300-$350 would be the best price…….
600$ -.- we should buy it with contract,the price is too high
Don’t waste your time or money. Check it out.. I should have… With new verizon service, Amazon.cim will sell you the very latest Droid Incredible for $39.95….