Consumers who want to buy a new Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Droid X from Verizon Wireless may want to buy an Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone 4 instead, even if it comes with a rubber sheath.
The Verizon Wireless website shows that the Droid X is sold out until July 27 when handsets ordered now will be shipped.
The news represents another example of the lack of product planning by large smartphone companies. Apple had similar problems with the iPhone 4 and iPad.The critical difference between the Droid X and iPhone is that the Droid is not considered one of the top-tier products in the industry, a position enjoyed by Apple and Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM), which makes the Blackberry. Motorola, which was almost destroyed when its RAZR handset sales lost momentum, has a small window of time to gain market share in a competitive field that includes Apple, RIMM, Samsung, LG, and smartphone laggard Nokia (NYSE: NOK).
Motorola’s shares dropped from almost $26 at the height of the success of the RAZR in 2006 to just above $3 in March 2009. Shares have recovered to $7.50, but without an extremely successful set of Droid launches, Motorola will slip to the back of the smartphone track again.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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