iDon’t believe this: Verizon jab at Apple mostly misses the mark

Following closely on the heels of its extremely pointed “there’s a map for that” ad, Verizon has released the “iDon’t” TV ad. Not since Apple’s own “Mac vs. PC” ad campaign has there been such a directed attack on another brands products and abilities. Let’s have a closer look!

It’s a good ad, with a real vicious streak that is bound to attract your attention. So let’s take a look a slightly closer look at it, step by step.

iDon’t have a real keyboard

At first glance this might seem like a technically true but pointless assertion. Yes, the iPhone has no real keyboard. But with a sufficiently good touch keyboard, you don’t need one. This comes down to a matter of personal preference. Do you prefer using a real keyboard? “Well” says Verizon “the Droid has one”. This is part of the charm of Android - since any manufacturer can use the platform, you’re bound to find an Android that has the feature you’re looking for. And if there isn’t, just wait a bit. One is bound to come along.

iDon’t run simultaneous apps

This is really a User Interface criticism, rather than a hardware one. The iPhone is certainly capable of running more than one app at a time, but it doesn’t utilise any kind of tabbed or paneled system like we’ve seen on the Palm Pre or more recent WinMo releases. But you can be damn sure that this is a feature iPhone will be absorbing in the future.

iDon’t take 5-megapixel pictures

It’s hard to argue with a 5MP camera, especially when you’ve only got a 3.2 MP one.

iDon’t customize

Once again, this is a UI criticism… and it’s a fair one. iPhone doesn’t dabble with the kind of customisable homescreen that we’re seeing in other smartphones. You get your scrollable screen of icons, and you better like it.

iDon’t run widgets

That’s right. It runs applications. This is a pretty childish jab. Please, Verizon, semantics doesn’t make you look big or clever.

iDon’t allow open development

This is a big plus point for the Droid boys… but it’s worth pointing out that “Droid” and “Verizon” don’t allow open development either. It’s Android that allows open development - and even that’s been looking a teensy bit shaky since the CyanogenMod incident.

iDon’t take pictures in the dark

Wow! The Droid takes night-vision pics? That’s aweso… oh. You mean it has a flash. Right. Well if you mean “iDon’t have a flash” then say that. Also that makes 2 out of 8 points raised in this advertisement about the camera. 25% of the arguments Verizon has to support Droid are “our camera is better”.

iDon’t have interchangeable batteries.

A hit! A palpable hit! Yes, this is a valid criticism of Apple products going back to the very first iPod… you know, the ones carved out of stone that your ancient ancestors used. When your battery inevitably runs dry, you have to either buy a new iPod/iPhone or send it back to the factory to get a new battery. Which is so expensive you’re better off just getting a new one.

What we think?

So you’ve got eight assertions here that Verizon has made here about why Droid is better than iPhone. Of those, fully half are either about the UI or the camera. Then you’ve got two that come across as both flimsy and petty… and two that are pretty solid body blows to the Apple device. For an ad that falls neatly into the “negative campaigning” category, you would think they’d have aimed for a better than 25% hit rate.

However, it has to be said that the ad has done its job. I am excited about Droid. I really am. But combined with the “map for that” ad, what you’ve got here is an astonishingly aggressive campaign from Verizon - aimed not only at building its own product, but taking roundhouse swings at the iPhone. And if you’re going to play that game, you had better have a good hand. The Droid would want to be pretty spectacular, is what I’m saying.

Here’s another little thing, that a friend of mine pointed out:

Yes, Verizon has had to lease the word “Droid” from George Lucas. As in “these aren’t the droids you’re looking for”. I find that strangely soothing. Because, as we all know, R2D2 does everything.