Verizon Mocks iPhone for AT&T Network

Great ads. They’re hitting the iPhone on the one factor that’s out of Apple’s control. The “Island of Misfit Toys” spot is particularly good, and is even reminiscent of one of Apple’s own “Get a Mac” ads.

My only quibble is that the message of these ads is along the lines of, If you get an iPhone, you’ll be disappointed by AT&T’s network; get a phone from Verizon instead. I think they’re missing an opportunity here by not making a specific recommendation. They should be pushing the Droid, with a message along the lines of, Don’t get an iPhone on AT&T, get a Droid on Verizon.

It’s fine to keep running separate ad campaigns for Verizon in general and for things like BlackBerrys. But if they’re going to run explicitly anti-iPhone ads, they should use them to establish Droid as the superior rival. I’m not arguing that Verizon should put all its eggs in the Droid basket, just all its holiday season 2009 anti-iPhone eggs.

★ Sunday, 8 November 2009