It appears that Verizon is going to keep up the old business model of nickel and diming it’s customers to death with the Motorola Droid, their flagship device, by charging $15 extra a month for MS Exchange support.  The net seems to be amazed by this; that Big Red is actually going to charge their customers more for services that they want to use. The real problem that the Droid is going to face won’t be pricing, it will be targeting.

More of the same, nothing to see here

Verizon is tied with AT&T for the most expensive plans in America as Sprint and T Mobile duke it out for the best price (value would be the wrong word here, at least in my area). Verizon has consistently charged the same amount of money for all smartphone data plans and add-ons; $29.99 for “unlimited” data plan on top of a $39.99 or higher voice plan and $15 extra for Exchange support (for Business accounts). This isn’t anything new and for consumers to think that “things will be different” now that Verizon is more “open and loving” with Android, they better think again or stay with Sprint or T Mobile.

Consumer Phone? The Droid?

This isn’t the only news with this story, something that struck me odd was that Brenda Raney, a spokeswoman for Verizon, said that the Droid is “a consumer phone.” The comment was used to explain that most consumers won’t be using Exchange and since the Droid is a “consumer phone” that customers need not worry about the higher priced data plan.

This is where Verizon is not thinking clearly and may really miss the target market with the Droid. From every review of the device that I have obsessively read, the Droid is not for a “typical” consumer. A “typical” consumer phone would be something that is user friendly like the iPhone. The Droid is not a phone that one can just pick up and instantly know what they are doing. For geeks the phone is great but this isn’t a “consumer” phone.  Anyone can take a look at the Droid commercials and understand that this phone isn’t targeted to everyone. Not everyone cares about “open development” let alone even know what the hell it means.

The Real Problem

The Exchange pricing for the Droid is not the real story here, the story is the misconception of what Verizon thinks that the Droid actually is. If Verizon keeps this kind of attitude towards the Droid, that it is an iPhone “killer” and a consumer phone, they are going to seriously frustrate a ton of customers that want a phone that can play cool games and play their latest MP3s. Verizon needs to recognize and appreciate the Droid for what it is, a smartphone with a lot of power and a large learning curve for standard consumers.

Can normal consumers use the Droid without frustation?