CNET News Daily Podcast: Why Verizon is key to the Droid's success

Motorola has been desperate for a hit phone since the Razr. The Droid, powered by Android 2.0, and available beginning next week, could be the beginning of a comeback for the handset maker, says CNET's Maggie Reardon. She talks about the importance of the Droid's exclusive contract with Verizon, and why it could be the key to its success.

Also on today's podcast: Sony suffers another bad quarter, ICANN makes one of the biggest changes to the Internet in 40 years, Facebook gets a huge judgment against the infamous spam king, and some scary Halloween tech tales.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

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Today's stories:

Can the Droid save Motorola?

Sony continues quarterly losing streak

Facebook awarded $711 million in spam lawsuit

ICANN approves non-Latin domain names

Will the Chevy Volt make money for GM?

Let's kill the OS upgrade disc

Spooky tech tales to make your computer crawl

[01Phyxius]

inb4 flame war!

Also, I REALLY want the droid!

[rcardona2k]

these aren't the droids you're looking for, he can go about his business, move along...

[AppleSuxLeo]

Google tools and services are web-based to begin with, so technically speaking any web-enabled mobile phone is capable of leveraging Google to some extent. Google also has a vested interest in having users adopt its tools and services no matter what mobile device they use, so there are tools and connectors available for other platforms as well. But, there is no need to try to fit a square peg in a round hole when the Android OS offers the potential of seamless integration with all that Google has to offer.

By embracing Google Apps and other Google tools, and adopting the Verizon Droid (or other Android-based device), small businesses can create a cost-effective alternative on par with large enterprise Blackberry or Microsoft server implementations.

[mathiastck]

I think Verizon has already given Android the boost it needed. I expect them to continue to provide the good support I had on my Blackberry, and it's in their interest to keep promoting it.

But I'm ready for ATT to wakeup. Heck, it's in Apple's interests for the feature phones of those that don't want iPhones to be replaced by Android phones.