Google’s Android operating system might be a hit with consumers, but Verizon Wireless is betting it can make Android appeal to suits too: the company will be launching pre-orders for the Motorola Droid Pro smartphone tomorrow, November 9, in advance of the devices going on sale in stores November 19. The Droid Pro will be priced at $179.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate, when purchased with a qualifying two-year service agreement.
What makes the Droid Pro business-ready? First off, it sports a full QWERTY keypad, which business types raised on BlackBerry devices can’t seem to live without. The phone also features a 3.1-inch 480 by 320-pixel touchscreen display, 5 megapixel camera, a 1 GHz processor, 2 GB of onboard storage (with SD card removable storage), and Android 2.2 “Froyo” with Adobe Flash 10.1. The Droid Pro also sports integrated Wi-Fi and the capability to act as a 3G mobile hotspot for nearby Wi-Fi devices.
The phone is also designed to appeal to business travelers with enhanced Microsoft Exchange compatibility, IPSec multithreaded VPN capabilities for connecting back to corporate networks, along with global roaming—Verizon Wireless plans will be available for voice service in more than 220 countries, and data service in more than 200 countries. And in early 2011, Verizon Wireless says users will be able to support encrypted SD cards, so all those corporate secrets can remain more-or-less secret. And if things still go wrong, the IT department can tap into remote device wipe capabilities.
