iPhone, Droid, Storm 2, Pixi: Phones of Christmas Present

Never have there been so many new smartphones from which to choose with a holiday season approaching. So which do you pick for that perfect gift? It could depend on for whom you are buying.

Many predict that this will finally be the year that a contender to the iPhone will step up and make itself heard. Advertising Age broke out its crystal ball and has some predictions for the success (or lack thereof) for six of this year’s new smartphones, including:

• iPhone: A new survey shows more than one-third of potential buyers would opt for an iPhone. The $99 price tag for the old 3G version will also help. (And as we reported last week, it’s rumored an 8GB version of the 3G S might be made available soon.)
• Droid: Ad Age expects Droid to “stem Verizon’s customer losses to AT&T’s iPhone,” calling it the first real challenger to Apple’s product and a good option because of Verizon’s network.
• BlackBerry Storm 2: Probably won’t be a big hit and BlackBerry needs to get it in gear if it wants to keep its strong position in the smartphone space.
• Palm Pixi: The Pre’s little cousin won’t gobble up share, but its’competitive $99 price tag will keep it in the game. However, one analyst is quoted as saying people aren’t likely to switch to Sprint, even if the phone is good.
• Motorola CLIQ: A good phone that will succeed among T-Mobile customers – should be popular among youth.
• HTC Hero: has good momentum thanks to strong October sales, but likely to see more competition this month from Samsung Moment, which is Android-based.