what hardware change was that? I would think they wouldn't release the two right after one another. I would think you would release the shadow then at least wait 4- 6 months after to release another better phone. why get the shadow if you could get the droid 2 ya know but hey I guesss they do what they do for a reason
Well, I'm generally inclined to think that huge corporations aren't populated by idiots but I've worked with enough of them to conclude the organizational rationality depends on more than the combined IQ's of the participants.
And I'm beginning to believe that the combination Google, various manufacturers, and various carriers is producing some strange outcomes. Specifically, it's beginning to appear that Google's extremely rapid enhancement process for the Android O/S is throwing the entire release schedules for manufacturers and carriers into disarray.
From the corporate viewpoint (though not necessarily from the consumer viewpoint), there should be some rough coordination of the schedules for o/s releases, incorporation into new devices by manufacturers, and release to consumers by carriers. It seems, however, that Google is creating considerable havoc by moving on a much faster schedule than manufacturers and carriers can match.
At the same time, the uncertainty of manufacturers and carriers about the configuration of devices that consumers want has led to flooding the market with new devices, each with a much shorter shelf life than the previous generation.
This combination results in carriers with who have a difficult time promoting and stocking o/s+device combinations that make any sense. So there's a Droid Eris that has been discontinued by VZW that gets a 2.1 upgrade and a Droid Devour, introduced only three months ago running 1.5. The Incredible which is constrained by production shortages may well have a down rev version of Android compared to the Moto Droid (and definitely compared to the Nexus One.)
All in all, it appears no one is "in charge" here. (Not necessarily a bad thing.) With their own phone and no interference from either the manufacturer or their carriers, Google can pressure the market by releasing 2.2 for the Nexus. Meanwhile, manufacturers like HTC and Motorola struggle to keep up with their proprietary interface requirements on top of the o/s and carriers like Verizon try to figure out how to sell phones in the midst of all this confusion.