HTC Droid Incredible Now Available on Verizon Wireless
Potentially the Apple iPhone’s first real competitor, the HTC Droid Incredible is now available from Verizon Wireless. Due to already high demand for the Incredible, orders placed online today won’t ship until May 4.
The HTC Droid Incredible is now available on the Verizon Wireless network.
Prescient shoppers who took advantage of Verizon’s offer to preorder the smartphone may be doubly pleased with themselves today — according to the Verizon site, shoppers who buy the device online today shouldn’t expect it to ship until May 4, “due to high demand.”
Retailing at a subsidized rate of $199, after a $100 mail-in rebate and with a two-year service contract — sans contract, you’re looking at $529.99 — the Incredible is expected to make quite an impact.
“The Incredible is likely to have the biggest impact on Google’s nascent foray into retailing; consumers will have absolutely no reason to buy the upcoming Verizon Wireless-specific version of the Nexus One when the Incredible is available at retail,” wrote Current Analysis analyst Avi Greengart in his April 20 report, “HTC’s Droid Incredible Lives Up to Its Name at Verizon Wireless.”
Greengart additionally expects the Incredible to impact specific competitors at Verizon (sorry, Palm Pre) and writes that it “kills the rationale for the Verizon Wireless version of the Nexus One.” AT&T’s iPhone is expected to feel little impact, however, and neither will it spoil Sprint’s launch of the HTC EVO 4G.
The Incredible runs Google’s Android 2.1 operating system, features a 3.7-inch WVGA (480 by 800) AMOLED capacitive touch screen and includes the 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. WiFi connectivity and an 8-megapixel camera are included, it ships with the latest version of HTC Sense and Incredible users will have access to several exclusive Verizon apps, including Skype mobile VOIP (voice over IP), for unlimited Skype-to-Skype calling and instant messaging.
There’s also Bluetooth 2.1, 8GB of internal memory, a full HTML browser with Flash Lite 4.0, easy access to the growing Android Market app store and tight integration with Google apps such as Google Maps with Integration, Gmail and Google Talk, as well as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.