The Motorola Droid (stylized as DROID; GSM/UMTS version: Motorola Milestone) is an Internet and multimedia enabled smartphone designed by Motorola, which runs Google's Android operating system. The brand name Droid is a trademark of Lucasfilm licensed to Verizon Wireless.
In the United States, the handset is distributed exclusively by Verizon Wireless. Features of the phone include Wi-Fi networking, a 5-megapixel low light capable digital camera, a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack, interchangeable battery, 3.7-inch 854 x 480 touchscreen display. It also includes microSDHC support with bundled 16 GB card, free turn-by-turn navigation from Google Maps, sliding QWERTY keyboard, and Texas Instruments OMAP 3430 processor. The Motorola Droid runs Android version 2.2. The phone does not, however, run the re-branded Motoblur interface for Android, instead providing the Google Experience skin and application stack.
The Droid has a hearing aid compatibility (hac) rating of M3/T3. The phone was the first to ship with free Google Maps Navigation (beta) installed. The Droid had been publicized under the codenames Sholes and Tao and the model number A855.In Latin America and Europe, the model number is A853 (Milestone)
Verizon explicitly promoted the Droid as an Apple iPhone-alternative. Launched on October 17, 2009 TV spots and an associated website made "entertainingly combative" claims listing features lacking on the iPhone, e.g. "iDon't multitask", only mentioning the name of the Droid in the final frame, reading "Droid Does". At the official launch event on October 28, 2009 Verizon's Chief Marketing Officer John Stratton described the campaign as a spoof of Apple's iPhone ads, intended to "wake up the market."
The marketing for the American launch included "Droid Does Times Square." This was a program (billed as an "interactive experience") in which Verizon connected the Nasdaq and Reuters electronic billboards in Times Square to its systems such that people were able to control the electronic displays by using voice commands (illustrating the voice search function that is a primary Android feature). Control of the billboards was available in Times Square or via the "Droid Does" website.
The November 6, 2009 release date of the Droid came just under a month after Verizon and Google announced that they had entered into an agreement[14] to jointly develop wireless devices based on the Android mobile platform. Verizon said at the time that it planned to have two Android-based handsets on the market by year-end with more to come in 2010. The other handset is the HTC Droid Eris, a modification to the HTC Hero, seen in shots of Google CEO Eric Schmidt holding one in a Verizon/Google press conference.
American exclusive software for the Droid includes Google Maps Navigation, an Amazon MP3 Store applet, and Verizon Wireless Visual Voice Mail management.
Analytics firm Flurry estimated that 250,000 Motorola Droid phones were sold in the United States during the phone's first week in stores.Flurry also estimated that 1.05 million Motorola Droids were sold in first 74 days of the launch. This number is greater than that of the original iPhone which sold one million units through day 74. Flurry also reported that Droid sales did not match the newest Apple release, the iPhone 3GS, which sold 1.6 million in the first week
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