Moto's Droid No iphone Killer, Yet

While impressive sale figures, competitors have noted that Apple sold one million iPhone 3GS untis in its first three days on the market this summer. And, in 2007, when the iPhone debuted, the device sold one million devices after 74 days, according to Apple.

Verizon is heavily promoting the device for the holiday shopping season and clearly is targeting the iPhone as its main competitor. Recent ads -- which AT&T is suing over -- depict the iPhone's exclusive carrier as having inferior cellular service coverage. But Research In Motion's Blackberry devices as well as Palm's Pre are likely to take a hit in sales with the Droid's debut. A number of analysts have reportedly said the Motorola device, which uses Google's Android operating system, could hit one million in sales by year's end.

Analysts seem to indicate the Droid could help lift Motorola out of its recent malaise. According to Barron's, Citigroup analyst Jim Suva this morning upgraded Moto shares to Buy from Sell, while also downgrading both Palm and Research In Motion to Sell ratings.

In addition, Motorola recorded a profit for its most recent quarter. Those figures were largely due to cost-cutting.

However, Motorola is poised to reap benefits from the Droid. The company, once riding high on sales of its wildly popular Razr cell phone introduced in 2004, has struggled to develop a follow-up act.