Motorola (NYSE:MOT)
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The highly anticipated Droid phone from Motorola Inc. (MOT) made its debut Wednesday with Verizon Wireless, in a major bid by the two companies to counter the popularity of Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhone.

The phone will be the first Android device on Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and Vodafone PLC (VOD), and will start selling at Verizon stores on Nov. 6 at $199.

"The marketing campaign that will support the Droid will be the largest in our history," Verizon Chief Marketing Officer John Stratton said. He declined to say how much the phone company is subsidizing Motorola for the Droid, which is exclusive to Verizon.

Motorola is betting heavily on Android to turn around a years-long drought of hit products. The Schaumburg, Ill.-based phone maker will have at least 20 new phones out by 2010, many based on the Android software, co-Chief Executive Sanjay Jha said.

Verizon is struggling to draw customers away from the iPhone, which is only available on rival AT&T Inc. (T) Earlier this week, Verizon reported that it had signed less than half the number of new subscribers in the third quarter than it had in the same period a year earlier.

The Droid sports many features not available on the iPhone, including a slide-out keyboard and the ability to run multiple applications at once. However, the iPhone has already weathered a number of so-called "iPhone killers" while continuing to grow in popularity and market share.

The phone is the first to sport the newest edition of Android, a mobile operating system developed by Google Inc. (GOOG). Verizon and Google executives had announced a partnership earlier this month and said they planned to introduce a number of Android phones for Verizon, starting with the Droid.

-By Niraj Sheth, The Wall Street Journal