iDon't Know

Verizon is, without a question, making some really strong decisions in recent times — not the least being the decision to go to LTE for its 4G network (a truly impressive technology). I also think the choice to move away from its long time ties to BREW phones, by putting a lot of its emphasis on Blackberry, Windows and now Android phones is brilliant and clearly the wave of the future.

I'm still not so sure of this campaign. While I don't advocate Dan Hesse's answer as a good way to compete, I think it is pretty bold to put a phone up as doing what the iPhone cannot do.

The trouble is that for as limited as the iPhone is in things such as multitasking, it is doubly ahead in ways most users actually care about: a huge ecosystem of first rate, beautiful, touch oriented apps; desktop class web browsing on a small screen; integration with the iTunes/iPod digital hub, etc.

It's significant that, for example, Apple clearly sees its consumer-level iPhone OS competitors more as Sony and Nintendo than Microsoft or Blackberry. Apple is also trying to play the enterprise card, but in this case, the consumer offers a far more lucrative market.

I think those iPhone advantages can be overcome for many users, and phones like the impressive HTC Imagio that I'm presently reviewing make a very good value/functionality argument for certain market segments. However, in sheer average user functionality, the iPhone has managed to rocket from out of nowhere to become the device to beat in mindshare and, in some segments, marketshare.

If I were Verizon I'd probably stick with the network tact and bide my time until the inevitable iPhone LTE shows up on their network.