iPhone dissed again in new Droid X ad

The iPhone's already been dragged into Verizon Wireless' feud with AT&T once, but now the attacks are hitting Apple closer to home.

A full-page advertisement for Motorola's upcoming Droid X appeared in the New York Times yesterday, with the following claim: "And most importantly, it comes with a double antenna design. The kind that lets you hold the phone any way you like and use it just about anywhere to make crystal clear calls."

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Those lines, as posted by TechCrunch, are a clear knock on the iPhone 4's antenna fiasco. Many users have reported that when held a certain way, the iPhone 4's signal quality degrades. Apple countered that the iPhone 4 has better reception than any previous iPhone due to its external antenna, housed in metal trim that runs around the device. The company told users to either avoid covering the lower left portion of the phone where the antenna is exposed, or buy a $29 bumper case that prevents skin from contacting the antenna.

iPhone 4 sales don't appear to have suffered -- they're sold out everywhere, with 1.7 million units sold in the first three days -- but Apple has some egg on its face nonetheless, and Motorola's looking to capitalize.

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Note the distinction, though: Motorola took out the ad, not Verizon. In the Droid's marketing campaign last year, Verizon was at the helm, with commercials such as "Pretty" that subtly suggested the iPhone was a "tiara-wearing, digitally clueless beauty pageant queen." Now it seems that the carrier's stepping back and letting Motorola get in the ring.

For the sake of reading into this way too much, I think Verizon wants to distance itself from the iPhone-bashing as it woos Apple. Verizon Wireless chief executive Lowell McAdam has said repeatedly that his network wants the iPhone, but the ball is in Apple's court. The latest rumor says a Verizon iPhone is coming in early 2011, but if that's going to happen, Verizon needs to start playing nice.

So as the tension heats up between Android and iPhone, expect to see Verizon lurking in the shadows, trying not to take sides.

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