Verizon jump started its launch of the Motorola Droid and HTC Droid Eris by opening its doors at midnight at its primary retail store in New York City.

The midnight opening is the first official launch in the country but follows numerous reports from those who have visited Best Buy and Walmart stores and successfully obtained the phone ahead of its official street date.

The Verizon New York flagship store had over 500 Motorola Droid's in stock and a couple of hundred of the HTC Droid Eris, according to David Samberg, a Verizon spokesperson.

We just wanted to release them both. They are two different phones. Motorola droid is the only android 2.0 phone out there whereas the HTC Droid Eris has an older Google Android operating system, Samberg said.

Both of these phones will be important phones for us throughout the holiday season.

The wireless network provider will open its other 2,000 stores in the country starting between 7 am and 8 am.

The Droid has a larger touch screen compared to the iPhone and is designed to easily navigate Web pages and use applications.

It also is the first phone to include a free mapping application from Google.

“I love the fact that it’s the first real good touch screen smart phone on Verizon. I was going to choose the iPhone but then I saw the specs on the Motorola Droid and saw that it was far superior. The 5 mega pixel camera is what sold me because I'm always taking photos with my friends so it will be nice to have nice crisp pictures and to directly upload to YouTube is cool and I love the GPS, said Joliz Cedeno from New York, one of the first to buy the handset.

Read more on Motorola Droid:

Verizon HTC Droid Eris VS Motorola Droid: Which is better?

Motorola Droid going global as Motorola Milestone in 3 countries

Motorola Droid: First Android Phone with Google's Navigation App

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