Midnight Droid madness in Manhattan

NEW YORK--More than a hundred people were lined up at midnight outside a Verizon Wireless store in midtown Manhattan to be among the first people to buy the new Motorola Droid.

More than a hundred people showed up at a Verizon Wireless store in New York City at midnight to buy the new Motorola Droid Thursday night.

(Credit: Marguerite Reardon/CNET)

About 65 eager shoppers lined the south side of West 34th Street across from Macy's in Manhattan at 11:30 p.m. Thursday waiting for the store to open. Verizon opened the store from midnight to 2 a.m. to give people in the Big Apple a head start on the morning cell phone rush. By midnight, when the doors officially opened, about 100 people stood in line as Verizon officials ushered in customers 25 at a time.

Once inside the store, about 13 sales representatives and another four or five device specialists milled around, helping customers and demonstrating the phone's features. Representative were also helping customers transfer contacts to their new phone.

Verizon Wireless spokesman David Samberg said he felt confident that Verizon would be able to meet customer demand for the new Droid in New York City. The 34th Street store alone had at least 500 Droids as well as some HTC Android Eris phones, and Samberg said he expects anyone wanting to buy a Droid on Friday in New York City will be able to get one.

"Five hundred phones is a lot of phones to sell in one day," he said.

Most people standing in line for the new Motorola Droid are long time, loyal Verizon Wireless customers.

(Credit: Marguerite Reardon/CNET)

Most of the people standing in line at midnight for a Droid were loyal Verizon Wireless customers. Geoffrey Aravallis, who stopped to pick up his Droid on his way home from a dance club in the city, said he has been a Verizon Wireless customer for nine years.

He said he had been tempted to switch to AT&T for the iPhone but didn't because he felt Verizon has a better network than AT&T. Now that the Droid is out, he is glad he waited.

"I use Gmail and all kinds of Google services, so it's nice to be able to have all that on my phone," he said. "And the Droid is much more open than the iPhone."

Gabrielle Dahms admitted she had also been tempted to get the iPhone. But she had heard terrible things about AT&T's network and was leery about making the switch. Instead, she decided to wait for the Droid.

"It has all the features I like on the iPhone," she said. "Plus it has a real keyboard, which sold me."

Many people have been comparing the new Droid to the iPhone, and some have even called the new device the true iPhone killer. But judging from the people I talked with who were buying the Droid, it looks like it might be more of a BlackBerry killer.

Dahms and her boyfriend, Will Welch, had been BlackBerry Curve users. Welch said he had tried the BlackBerry Storm last year when it first came out, but he didn't like it. He also thought the iPhone was cool, but was unwilling to switch carriers for it. And he said he would have probably upgraded to the BlackBerry Tour if the Droid hadn't come along.

The Droid will hit store shelves nationally starting at 7 a.m. Friday in many stores around the country. CNET News will be covering the launch, so stay tuned for updates.

I actually was one of them waiting on line. I'm playing with the Droid phone now and I have to say that it's everything that it's hyped it up to be! I even did a fair amount of typing already, actually had a signal somehow while I was on the N train underground headed home. The keyboard is not as bad as people make it out to be. I made a few mistakes here and there when I first started using it, but after awhile I was typo free. The word suggestions are also nice, though I haven't used them that much so far.

[cbscowards]

Did you find anything crippled yet? Have fun with it!

[ibeetle]

@cbscowards

If? If? With Verizon it is not did you find; it is what is crippled.

[Random_Walk]

Actually, that's good to hear. The app limitation is going to suck after awhile (depending on how many apps and what type of them you collect), but it's good to see working competition.

Sorry, just got back to this thread. I'm surprised that Apple fanboys are still touting the "Verizon cripples phones" myth. The Droid is actually a very open device, and Verizon hasn't been crippling their phones for quite awhile now.

While I'm at it, let me also inform you that Macs actually do have right-click, and Zunes are no longer brown.

Wow!! Sixty five crazed shoppers! Madness indeed.

[ibeetle]

I have seen more at a Midnight launch of a video game in a GameStop.

[solitare_pax]

Did R2-D2 get Rabies or something? :)

[xilonic]

Where is the recession?!

[bctexas]

I was thinking the same thing, lol!

[snoonw]

apple will be out with the droid killer soon

[gerrrg]

Rolling the eyes.

[cg0def]

As sceptical as I am about the shiny new moto abomination I really want to see how this one plays out.

[ibeetle]

@snoonw

"apple will be out with the droid killer soon"

That day would be today. PC World, and others are just now reporting that Apple and AT&T will be announcing a $99 (no mail in rebate) 3G S iPhone sometime between today and Monday.

[shuyin84]

I really hope the iPhone 4g looks the way it's rumored too, it'll bury the droid.... ut thats saying the droid has the iPhone beat, which it hasn't. Lets remind everyone of verizons ORIGINAL iPhone killer, the Voyager, I bet we all remember the Voyager

[SiliconValleyJoe]

This "killer" type comparison is getting old. Droid serves a large number of consumers who are Verizon subscribers. The device has good potentials. It serves as a competitor and that will push other device maker including Apple to continue to innovate in order to compete. All that is good.

The reason we have all these choices today is because of competition generated by the iPhone, not because iPhone "killed" other devices or that other devices "killed" the iPhone.

Let's enjoy what Droid has to offer if you are on Verizon.

[bctexas]

The droid killer? Um,.....it's been around for the past 4 years, it's called the iPhone.

[subslug]

All Verizon phones do things the iPhone can't, connect to the best wireless network there is.

It's fun having to loan my Verizon phone to all these iPhone toters while in the Black Hills of SD because of that sub par network they're stuck with.
Talk about crippled.

[jlambeth1]

yeah, ok apple fanboy. they can try but i'll place my bets on android 2.0 and future updates of the OS will trump Apple in less than two years. btw, why such a big deal made of not being able snyc your media with the any android device like you can with the iphone. don't know about everyone else but my music collection is way too big to automatically sync with any size iphone. i would much rather drag and drop my selected tracks to the phone like i can with any mass usb storage device. long live android!!

[zizzybaloobah]

Reading these initial reports is great news. I too have been a Verizon customer for years, putting up with so-so phones (and crippled phones), in exchange for the superior network (which is really what it is all about - what good is a fancy schmancy phone if you can't place or receive a call?). The wait is over, and I think Verizon has done a great job rewarding faithful customers who didn't ditch them just to get a whatever phone is the latest craze, as well as answering the well-deserved criticism about what they did (and didn't) do/allow their phones to do. I can't wait to pick mine up about 3 hours.

[irregularjoe]

Now if they only reward faithful customers by lowering the price.........

[cbscowards]

Yea, agreed. I'm not seeing how they are "rewarding" faithful customers. I've been a VZW customer for at least 10 years, locked in by a family plan. I'm working one freeing up the contract by next summer. Then I'll decide whether to go iPhone or Droid (or whatever else is available then). But so far I'm not impressed with the raised ETF and the overall plan pricing. They might not be worse than AT&T, but not any better. They send me BS junk mail about how I'm a "priority customer", but I've yet to see the benefit of that.

[SiliconValleyJoe]

Verizon is a corporation and a business out to make money for its stock holders and employees. What does being "faithful" have to do with anything? Why would one be "faithful" to a large corporation?

Customers leaving for "...whatever phone is the latest craze..."? What do you think Droid is and of people who then leave other carriers to buy Droid? This "latest craze" and mine is better than yours type competition is getting old?

If you prefer Verizon for your own reasons and you like Droid, then stay with Verizon and buy the Droid! Kudos to you. Some other people need other companies and other phones for various reasons and purposes.

No one has a monopoly over being the "best" or having the "best".

[awaybbl]

Does the Verizon based Droid allow you to be using the phone while using the browser, or sending/receiving emails when connected to just their 3G network?

I do understand that android supports multiple apps at once, but if the network only supports data when voice is not active, it could limit some functionality.

[SixString16]

There's a limitation with CDMA that you can't use data and voice at the same time. For me this really isn't that much of an issue, but I'm sure there's a few people out there who might be slightly inconvenienced by this.

When the LTE network gets rolled out, this won't be an issue anymore.

[cbscowards]

Is the Droid "LTE ready"? I heard that it is not.

[shuyin84]

Speaking of multiple apps, i can use my iPhone to make a call, put it on speakerphone, hit the home button, the go back to whatever i was doing with it, up to 3 apps if you turn your music back on!!!!! no one considered that did they

[SixString16]

This phone is not LTE ready as it only has a CDMA chipset. Honestly, LTE won't be a viable network for at least another 2 years so that shouldn't be an obstacle for you to make a decision as to whether or not you want to buy this phone. I think since it has Wi-Fi, it's not a bad option to have until LTE does come along.

[Random_Walk]

LTE just barely got gelled as a standard... it'll take at least 2011 before it can be rolled out enough by any carrier to bother making a phone for it.

Also, Verizon will be stuck with LTE falling back to CDMA, unless Verizon feels like ripping out a lot of existing infrastructure. The funny part is, Verizon will be stuck then the way AT&T is stuck now, as they're rapidly (if not already) becoming the only carrier on the plent (aside from some Canadian corps) who use CDMA/EVDO (which in turn is rapidly, if not already, obsolete).

[awaybbl]

Guess I'll stick with my BlackBerry Bold then. I often get stuck on 2 hour conference calls, and would hate not being able to still do email while on the phone. Thanks for the heads up.

[irha73]

@awaybbl: if this is a CDMA limitation it should be a problem with all phones including your current blackberry. Do you mean you don't see a benefit of switching to droid or are you actually able to use email during long conference calls? May be bb is using wifi during conference calls? In which case droid should be able to do the same. Essentially droid should at least be able to do what your bb is capable of doing.

[ibeetle]

Thousands line up for 3rd Generation iPhones. Thousands line up for the launch of the new XBox 360 and Playstaion 3. 10's of thousands line up for the launch of the new Nintendo Wii.

And yet 100's lining up is Madness completely overtaking Manhattan.

In reality is was probably the original 60 lining up for the phone and the other 40 getting a good spot for the Yankees parade.

[gsmiller88]

But those devices were all launched simultaneously nationwide. At the time of this posting, only Manhattan stores had the Droid.

[Random_Walk]

Well... it's now morning pretty much everywhere in the US (save for Hawaii and Alaska), so... where are the lines?

[dylerl]

yep no lines at any Verizon store just reported by CNET, iPhone still rules, and the millions that have it can attest to that, so why bother griping about it, just accept it!!!

[Super2online]

I think lots of people will be interested in this phone, but I don't think it's an iPhone killer, that label may wind up falling to another android phone scheduled for US release in early 2010, Sony's Xperia X10. It's got the sex appeal and the horse power that Droid just can't match with a Snapdragon processor.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPw-yKyxAuU
Photos: http://news.softpedia.com/newsImage/Sony-Ericsson-XPERIA-X10-Now-Official-2.jpg/

[ekeefe41]

I wonder if they hired any actors to stand in line the way Apple does for the Iphone..

[Perry_Clease]

Care to back up your claim with some fact?

[ballmerisanape]

Yes... cause its not like they sold over 1,000,000 phones the WEEKEND the 3GS was sold.......

[shuyin84]

doesn't matter if they hired em to stand in line, they always buy the phone

[Random_Walk]

...maybe they gave 'em free concert tickets to some teenybopper musician?

[shuyin84]

cbscoward- LMAO

[hppyiphnusr]

Sounds like this article was written by Verizon marketing.

[dylerl]

No CNET has always been biased towards Verizon, I have barely seen any explanation of why AT&T had such problems with the iphone on their network and their fixes, they just complained about it when it all reality most people have no issues with AT&T it was only SF and NY that had major issues, and Apple sold millions of Iphone 3gs the first weekend it was out, I doubt the droid will get close to these numbers. It is just plain bias on CNET's part, and they are owned by CBS maybe they have some deal with Verizon (really Vodaphone, they are not even an US based company, I say buy US use AT&T)

[c4rlob]

I'd like to know how many of those 100 people decided to actually buy it? Or what was their reaction to the interface when they realized it idoesn't have multi-touch, or it idoesn't come with video media playback?

[frozenjello]

Loyal Verizon users had to endure over 2 years of iPhone envy, and also had to suffer the disappointment of the BB Storm. But in another sense, Verizon users have to thank Apple. The iPhone's runaway success forced Verizon to release a non-crippled phone YEARS EARLIER than Verizon otherwise would have.

[eltoro2827]

My friend just called me after buying one.... Straight from his mouth "it's ok, it's no iPhone"

[dylerl]

Thats exactly what I suspect, and with the reports that no Verizon has any lines at all hopefully puts all the iPhone killer talk to rest, the only thing that will kill the iPhone is the new iPhone coming out next year. All these people who hate Apple just because they are closed are stupid, they make the best product out there and that is not going to change, and they can do this because they are closed, you will never get a product like the iPhone from an open company like google, it just is impossible if you do not control the software and hardware, there is a reason why the new generation of users looks to Steve Jobs as their CEO idol and all use Macs and iPhones, Apple is going to take over the world whether you like it or not, their next mark is Cable and Satellite Televisions providers with their Itunes 30 dollar a month TV subscription!!!!!!

[lazycat202]

it's business. Thanks to no body! good market will survive :P

[thejoemisster]

Does it come with the ability to cut and paste? is the OS upgradeable? does it offer MMS support?

[jets2400]

yes, yes, and i believe yes

[dylerl]

There is nothing reporting the you can upgrade the OS if a new one comes out!!! CDMA yuck!!

[pinoytutorial]

So its judgment day today for Droid, was it? According to Cnet it was a little bit slow nonetheless a good start of droid, other "critiques" says otherwise. But I say, "Hell yeah! droid conquered US for a couple of hours today". We just hope that their ROI is profitable compare to the hunderds of thousand worth of ads they spend during the promotion period and err.. did I say, their impending "lawsuit" with AT&T too?

Collation of info about droid release today: http://bit.ly/did-droid-conquered-USA-today

Hope Droid will serve as a hand of midas to Verizon Corp. Soweet

[katiepea]

heres another article written by you that just reeks of misinformation and uninformed opinions, blackberry (RIM) is based on their push email services, the droid does not offer this, so you tell me exactly what this phone does better than blackberrys main focus? cause it certainly isn't email...

[montex66]

Oh look. Another iPhone killer. Yawn.

[douggdangger]

Android platform is sold by every U.S. carrier while the iphone is only carried by the worst carrier.

I don't think the iphone will fail, there are just too many people who think a device with a glowing fruit sticker makes them cool.

Ranking in smartphones just around the corner:
1. Blackberry
2. Android
3. 2 cans and a string
762. iphone

Wow, the Apple fanboy-ism is strong in this thread!

Well for those that think the 100+ people showing up at midnight for the Droid is bad, I actually would say it's pretty damn good. This is considering that it was not publicized at all aside from tweets and I just so happen to have seen the tweet.

Reports are also showing that sales are looking very very good for the Droid. For those of you that are comparing it to the 1 mil iPhone 3GS sales in a weekend, not to take away that accolade but I'd say that's an unfair comparison considering that that sales figure was for 21 countries, whereas the Droid is just for the US.

All stats and fanboy smug aside, I still am VERY happy with the Droid after playing with it this weekend. It fills the gaps where the iPhone failed for me, and that's what matters for me.