iPhone vs. Droid: Toy boy vs. boy's toy?
While Apple is so clever at appealing to both sexes, the Droid, with its new "Stealth Bomber" ad, seems to be developing an abjectly male persona.
Perhaps you are impressed with pilots who stealth-bomb unsuspecting parts of America. Like Texas.
You know, the pilots who frighten horses while delivering an explosive new device to American soil--the Motorola Droid. Well, perhaps, then, you are male.
Somehow, viewing Motorola's televisual covert activities leaves one with a troubling instinct that the Droid brand will be somewhat different from the iPhone. Somewhat more male, to be precise.
One of Apple's most brilliant and constant talents is to make its brand and the design of its products appeal equally to both sexes.
Apple's music is often sung by women. Apple's humor, in, for example, the "Get a Mac" spots, is the sort of subtle digging that makes men feel clever and women feel relieved that they don't have to spend even 30 seconds with a belching oaf.
In many ways, the Apple brand is the perfect toy boy. Looks young and lovely, lots of wit and versatility, and has just the right amount of muscle for other men to admire.
The Droid, on the other hand, seems to be setting itself up to be the peculiar love child of a union between Chuck Liddell and The Rock. It's strapping on its parachute and it's ready to thrust a fist in your face and a bomb into your back garden.
Is it any wonder that the cowboy in this new Droid spot stammers: "What in the world is that?"--as if he has just set eyes on an alien monstrosity whose GPS is on the blink?
The Droid, so far, is so male that the horses have bolted and the natives are in shock. It's a pillager that has already gouged vast craters out of American soil.
Will women gravitate to its charms? Or is Motorola carving an image for the Droid that consists entirely of chewing tobacco and gunning to the top?
Can a boy's toy take on the toy boy? Can one possibly wait until Friday?