So the Motorola Droid smartphone shifted some 100,000 handsets over the first weekend of going on sale, but it appears analysts are not that impressed with the Droid figures with Nielsen analyst Roger Entner saying this puts the Droid debut in the same category as the Palm Pre and that is a little troubling, reports the street.
Mark McKechnie an analyst for Broadpoint AmTech estimates Verizon sold in excess of half of the 200,000 Droid handsets while Verizon would only say that they sold “a lot.” However in the big wide world of mobile phones 100,000 isn’t a lot.
One would have to presume that the partnership between Verizon Google and Motorola with the Droid was so that they could deliver a smartphone that would rival the winning combination of Apple, AT&T and the iPhone.
According to Entner, Verizon wants the iPhone and they will get the iPhone; however it does strengthen your negotiation power if you also have a viable alternative at hand. With AT&T exclusivity over the iPhone set to end in 2010 it is widely expected that Verizon will add the iPhone to their line-up.
To clear the low bar set by analysts, Motorola need to sell a minimum of 1 million Droid handsets this year, but with only 100,000 already sold and just 8 weeks to go, analysts may not have set that bar low enough.