NEW YORK - Verizon Wireless will start selling its answer to the iPhone - the Droid - for $200 next week as the company taps into the growing appetite for smartphones that go far beyond making calls.
The Droid could help Verizon retain its status as the nation's largest wireless carrier and contribute to a turnaround of its manufacturer, Motorola Inc., which has not produced a hit since the wildly popular Razr phone in 2005.
The new device also could give a boost to Google Inc., which used the Droid to introduce new mapping software that could challenge stand-alone navigational devices, sending GPS gadget-maker Garmin Ltd.'s stock plunging.
Verizon revealed details yesterday after intensely advertising the new device in recent weeks. The company has been pointing out the features Apple Inc.'s iPhone lacks, such as a physical keyboard and the ability to run several applications at once.
With its largest marketing campaign ever, Verizon is targeting 15- to 35-year-olds who are highly engaged with their gadgets for social networking, blogging, and other online tasks.
Verizon, which will be Droid's exclusive U.S. distributor, will start selling the phone Nov. 6 for $199.99 after a rebate, with a two-year contract.
The Droid will not be the first challenger for the iPhone, which is available in the United States only to subscribers of AT&T Inc. Sprint Nextel Corp. has been pushing the Samsung Instinct and Palm Inc.'s Pre. Verizon also has been selling the touch-screen BlackBerry Storm, but it has not been a huge hit.
With the Droid, Verizon is tapping into the frustrations some users have with the iPhone. AT&T has run into capacity constraints given the popularity of the device for high-bandwidth tasks. Also, Apple's requirement that it approve all applications running on it ahead of time has led to complaints from some consumers and software developers. Users of the iPhone also have complained of dropped calls.
The Droid is the latest Motorola phone to use Google's Android operating system, an open platform that any developer can customize. Motorola considers that flexibility to be key to its turnaround.
Google, the Internet search leader, released a mapping application that calls out turn-by-turn directions while providing a variety of visual guides, including satellite imagery and high-resolution photos of the streets being traveled in places where they are available. Destinations can be found through voice commands or simply typing in an address.
The free application, called Google Maps Navigation, will work only on devices running Android 2.0. That is the latest version and is an exclusive distinction for now.
Shares in Garmin fell $6.19, or 16.38 percent, yesterday to $31.59.
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