Commentary

Xoom, Hurting Itself Already.

The Motorola Xoom seems to be the new crown jewel of Android tablets. Set to release on the 24th of February, Its among the first Android tablets to run the new Android 3.0 "Honeycomb". The tablet comes equipped with a NVIDIA Tegra 2: 1GHz dual-core processor, a 10.1 inch 1280x800 resolution display, 5mp rear facing camera as well as a 2mp front facing camera, and 32gb of on board memory. The full specs can be found here. The hardware is quite impressive, and the Xoom seems to be the front runner to compete with Apple's market monster, the iPad. Though in actuality the Xoom's real competitor will be the iPad 2.

It seems like it could be a great device, and I'm pretty exited for its release, but that excitement is diminishing after discovering the price point. The average consumer will have to pay $800 big ones to be able to get their hands on Motorola's tablet. Now in comparison to Apples high-end model, the Xoom is actually $30 less. If you compare it on that basis the Xoom is a hell of a deal, but my gut tells me the majority of the iPad sales stem from the 16gb wifi model which has a much more reasonable price set at $499.99.

The problem with such a high price point is that at $800 you're getting dangerously close to reaching the price of high-end laptops. For a device that's more of a netbook replacement, it doesn't seem practical to drop that kind of money on a device that doesn't replace or rival consumer laptops.

Another problem is that millions already own tablet devices, so why should they buy a new one. You need to be able to convince consumers that your tablet has more to offer then the current market competitors (iPad, Galaxy tab), and even then you need to convince them that its worth the $800 that they'd have to spend.

In my opinion, if the Motorola Xoom would have been priced at $600 like many had speculated, It may have been a very competitive device right from the start, but with the high price point it will have to prove that it's an overall better device to gain ground in the tablet market. When your primary competitor has already sold 13 million last year alone, it's a hard feat to accomplish.

Even with the high price point though I still believe the Xoom can do well. The only thing that really irked me was that it was rumored that the built in wifi will only activate after you have purchased a data plan for at least one month, that’s a slap in the face for me. Its like saying your TV screen wont work until you buy premium cable. If the price point doesn't scare you away then this rude realization might.

Of course there are rumors that there will be a wifi only model and may even be priced lower then the 3g model. One can hope, either way I look forward to the 24th so I may finally get my hands on a Xoom, even if it isn't mine.

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