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Verizon to Target Female Demographics with HTC Bliss Android Smartphone, Droidette?

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Verizon Wireless will be targeting its female subscribers with a special Android smartphone geared at women in the form of the HTC Bliss. In the early days of its Droid marketing campaign, the carrier had targeted its Droid brand towards male users and the Pre Plus with webOS towards female users in its television commercials for the products. According to This is my next, the carrier is planning once again to lure women back to the smartphone fray again with a speculated device that’s targeted to them.

The carrier is said to be holding special focus groups aimed at women in their 20s and 30s for an upcoming product launch coming at the end of the year. Fortunately, though, the blog reports that this product will not be just another pink smartphone, and would come with special apps and features geared at women.

Here is what This is my next has to say about the phone’s rumored design:

we are told it’s somewhere between a forest and sea green and the color was selected for its “calming” effect. Our source was shown a few mockups, but each of them had a greenish-gray rubber back so “women can have a better grip of the phone.”

In terms of specialized apps, the phone’s said to be coming with a calorie counting app along with a comparison shopping app.

For accessories, there will be a wireless charging dock with integrated speakers along with a special calming charm:

The last accessory is certainty the most interesting. It’s said to be called the “charm indicator” and the cube-shaped device comes with a hook for attaching to a purse or bag. As we tried to show in the image, it lights up to notify you when you’ve got a new message or missed call. We expected this to pair wirelessly with the phone, however, we are told that it attaches to phone with a cord — apparently, the cord also makes it easier for women to fish the phone out of that deep purse. It sounds like a pretty crazy idea, but one that actually makes a bit of sense for those that constantly lose their phone in their bag and want to easily see if they have a new message.

For our female readers at GottaBeMobile, is this phone stereotyping women? Is it genius or offensive to you? From a marketing perspective, I get that the current Droid campaigns are more geared towards men, and Verizon does have a need to attract a female audience, but I am not sure that the HTC Bliss concept is the right approach. With women filling more professional positions, I don’t think they’ll want a calming mood charm dangling off their handsets, but then again I may be creating my own stereotype for the modern Droidette.

4 Comments

4 Comments

  1. Calyx

    05/05/2011 at 7:03 pm

    Its not that they need a phone “for women”. Its that they need a phone with a reasonable size. I’m a big guy and I find those huge 4.3″ phones WAY too big for my tastes. If you want a smart phone but have no desire to watch HD video on it then 4.3 is too big. There are really very few android options less than 3.8″ (Nexus one, Aria, Defy). The iPhone 4 is 3.5″, and no one complains about it being too small. I’d buy one of these, as long as they dont gimp the CPU speed thinking that chicks dont need power.

  2. Emilyd47

    09/05/2011 at 12:01 am

    I’m a little offended by the calorie counting app but I like the color of the phone and the rubber back.

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