Verizon Hopes to "Kill the iPhone" With Voyager

Verizon's murderous thoughts toward the iPhone are manifest in its shiny, faster Voyager phone

Verizon's new LG made Voyager, unveiled on Wednesday, is just in time for the holiday season. The new phone is going up against Apple’s popular iPhone and carries with plenty of ammunition for a full-on assault of Cupertino’s best.

This "iPhone killer" features a strikingly similar design to the iPhone, but it has something that the iPhone doesn't: a faster network. The LG Voyager also hinges open to feature a full keypad and a smaller screen, for users who dislike the iPhone's tactile keypad. Other features include full Internet browsing, V CAST Video and Music access, 2MP digital camera and support for .mp3, .wma and unprotected .aac files.

"We think it'll be the best phone ... this year. It will kill the iPhone," Verizon Wireless Chief Marketing Officer Mike Lanman said in an interview.

Analyst Avi Greengart thinks this homicidal claim is a bit outlandish. He thinks that the Voyager will likely attract many at Verizon who don't want to switch providers. Greengart doesn't see the Voyager as hurting the iPhone's red hot sales though.

"People who want a high-end media phone and want to stay with Verizon will certainly give that one a hard look. I don't know that it would pull anybody away from an iPhone."

Perhaps, but Apple's latest draconian tactics to prevent iPhone unlocking may cause some users who were pondering an iPhone to defect to Verizon.

Verizon is focusing its guns on the iPhone, but the other three phones in the release may cause some stir as well.

The other three models are the Samsung Juke, BlackBerry Pearl, and the LG Venus. The Juke is stylish and candy bar thin and sports 2GB of storage, A2DP Bluetooth and a 1.3 megapixel camera. The Venus has some interesting touch screen features of its own including vibration feedback as well as a miniSD expansion, A2DP and a 2 megapixel camera. The BlackBerry Pearl offers a 1.3 megapixel camera, BlackBerry Maps, easy-to-use email (the main draw), a fully function multimedia player and miniSD expansion.

Verizon's new phones are certainly good looking. While it focuses on gunning down the iPhone with its LG voyager, many will likely also be drawn to the allure of the small sized Juke or the take-care-of-business-and-play-too Blackberry Pearl.