7 ms·

Motorola Xoom price official: $799 unsubsidized on Verizon, $600 for WiFi-only

15 points by sandipc 16y ago

blinkingled 16y ago
Glad to see Moto doing the most sensible thing - Very appealing price even when compared against the yet-hypothetical iPad 2 which is not likely to have 1Gb of RAM, dual cameras or USB 2.0 port for that matter.
- Synaesthesia 16y ago
  I'm almost certain the iPad 2 will have 1gb RAM, a dual Core CPU, and at least a front facing camera. It won't have a USB port though. Guess we'll have to wait and see though!
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
    - Andrewski 16y ago
      Nobody cares dude.
eftpotrm 16y ago
I can buy a 3G USB dongle for, what, £20? Heck, for that price difference, I can buy a whole 3G Kindle. I find it very hard to believe they're both subsidised that heavily by their respective backers, so why (other than supporting the price of overpriced 3.7" tablets, er smartphones) is the 3G enabled tablet so much more expensive?
christophe971 16y ago
Then it's doomed. Any tablet with a higher price than the iPad fails to generate any kind of lasting interest, I don't see why it will be different here. Which is sad, the Xoom looks like a great tablet.
- cryptoz 16y ago
 The Xoom will mostly compete with the yet-to-be-announced iPad 2. The Xoom's specs completely blow the original iPad out of the water, so it's likely okay that it's priced above the current iPad; we'll have to wait and see what the iPad 2 brings to the table. If Apple can hit similar specs at a cheaper price then you might be right, but I doubt that'll happen. The Xoom also has the Honeycomb advantage; I wonder what iPad 2's UI will look like. I think you underestimate how impressed average people will be when casually browsing tablets in stores. Honeycomb is gorgeous.
 - Andrewski 16y ago
 It needs to have higher specs, as it is running a knocked off Java. And as good as honeycomb cereal is, Android is pretty sluggish and ugly compared to iOS. iOS is gorgeous. Nobody bought the iPad because of specs, aside from the battery life. If you think they did, you still do not understand the market, and are probably baffled that people are not buying Intel based tablets.
 - cryptoz 16y ago
 > It needs to have higher specs, as it is running a knocked off Java What? This makes no sense at all. How are those two thoughts related at all? And Android runs real Java, not "knocked off" Java. > And as good as honeycomb cereal is, Android is pretty sluggish and ugly compared to iOS. iOS is gorgeous. Oh I see, you're a troll. I'll respond anyway. Android is not sluggish compared to iOS; especially given that Honeycomb isn't even out in the wild running on real devices yet, this statement is totally unfounded. I'll grant you that iOS is gorgeous, though. But so is Honeycomb. :) > Nobody bought the iPad because of specs, aside from the battery life. If you think they did, you still do not understand the market, and are probably baffled that people are not buying Intel based tablets. iPad was a new product in a new form factor. It was a "game-changer". Nobody bought it based on specs because they had nothing to compare it to. I'm definitely not suggesting that people will buy new tablets based on specs either, but it will matter that the two devices are in the same league.
Andrewski 16y ago
What an awful name. Of course the iPad gas a lame name, but at least it has an obvious pronunciation. I see "Xoom" and say "exhume" which means to dig a body up. I think I smell the reek of death. Now if the exhume was only say, $300 for the wifi only unit, they'd have something. Even $400 would be too much for what consumers will call a "generic iPad" as even the hard-up could find another $99 if they already had $400 to drop on a toy like a tablet. Exhume indeed. This may illustrate to clever marketers that for a lot of people, the obvious and seemingly correct pronunciation for a clever brand might bite them. My grandpa called Qwest "queue west" as they made him wait for a customer service agent too long for his liking. He was onto something.
- sandipc 16y ago
  when the Apple tablet was announced, the chosen name for the device was subject to ridicule for weeks on the internet. After it became one of the fastest selling tech products ever, the internet whiners were nowhere to be found...
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
  - Andrewski 16y ago
    What do you mean? The name is still awful. Hell I am writing this on my iPad, and I still think it is an awful name. On edit: you missed my main point, which is that Xoom has no clear pronunciation. Is it "zoom?" I am supposing that is what they want me to call it, but "exhume" is what it looks like.
kenjackson 16y ago
That $600 is a good price point for this device. I'm tempted to get one...
Tichy 16y ago
The main problem for me is that they destroyed trust by refusing to update the Android OS on some of their phones. Presumably the same thing will happen on the tablet. I wish for a "Nexus One" of Honeycomb tablets...
- kbob 16y ago
  Google got burned when they tried to sell Nexus phones directly; they couldn't match the carriers' bundled prices. But it might make sense for Google to sell a WiFi-only tablet directly.
  - r00fus 16y ago
    Via which retail store? They need someone to actually sell the product, and Google has no experience with end-customer product sales.
    - wmf 16y ago
      The Nexus S is in Best Buy. Having no retail for the Nexus One was dumb, but Google has learned.
  - rudiger 16y ago
    If Google can't match $600-800 dollars for a tablet device, that's just embarrassing.
    - kbob 16y ago
      Exactly. The Nexus One at $599 (I think) was competing against Verizon's Droid at $99 with rebate. A Google WiFi-only tablet would compete against the WiFi-only Xoom at $599 and could be price-competitive.
  - Tichy 16y ago
    They don't have to sell it directly, only guarantee OS updates. Speaking of which, somehow I still don't have Gingerbread on my N1.
ugh 16y ago
$600 is a good price point. Great to see that they will not only be selling a $800 model.
npalli 16y ago
Wow, completely amazing pricing. Going to get the wi-fi version. This completely blow away the current iPad. Has front/back facing camera with video capture, better resolution, dual-core processor with graphics acceleration, HDMI, USB, microSD, Android 3.0 etc. Good strategy of going after the high end. After all, in another 6 months you will be able to get the current iPad like specs on the low end for $300/$400 from commodity players.
bane 16y ago
$299 for the 3g, $250 for the wifi, then we'll talk.
snitko 16y ago
There's also Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1" coming out soon, wonder what the price would be for that device. With all this new subscription policy mess Apple is making, I'd rather be sure I have a Kindle and an Audible apps and not overpaying for the content, so I'm seriously considering an Android tablet.

15 points by sandipc 16y ago

Glad to see Moto doing the most sensible thing - Very appealing price even when compared against the yet-hypothetical iPad 2 which is not likely to have 1Gb of RAM, dual cameras or USB 2.0 port for that matter.

Synaesthesia 16y ago
I'm almost certain the iPad 2 will have 1gb RAM, a dual Core CPU, and at least a front facing camera. It won't have a USB port though. Guess we'll have to wait and see though!
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
  - Andrewski 16y ago
    Nobody cares dude.

eftpotrm 16y ago

I can buy a 3G USB dongle for, what, £20? Heck, for that price difference, I can buy a whole 3G Kindle. I find it very hard to believe they're both subsidised that heavily by their respective backers, so why (other than supporting the price of overpriced 3.7" tablets, er smartphones) is the 3G enabled tablet so much more expensive?

christophe971 16y ago

Then it's doomed. Any tablet with a higher price than the iPad fails to generate any kind of lasting interest, I don't see why it will be different here. Which is sad, the Xoom looks like a great tablet.

cryptoz 16y ago
The Xoom will mostly compete with the yet-to-be-announced iPad 2. The Xoom's specs completely blow the original iPad out of the water, so it's likely okay that it's priced above the current iPad; we'll have to wait and see what the iPad 2 brings to the table. If Apple can hit similar specs at a cheaper price then you might be right, but I doubt that'll happen. The Xoom also has the Honeycomb advantage; I wonder what iPad 2's UI will look like. I think you underestimate how impressed average people will be when casually browsing tablets in stores. Honeycomb is gorgeous.
- Andrewski 16y ago
 It needs to have higher specs, as it is running a knocked off Java. And as good as honeycomb cereal is, Android is pretty sluggish and ugly compared to iOS. iOS is gorgeous. Nobody bought the iPad because of specs, aside from the battery life. If you think they did, you still do not understand the market, and are probably baffled that people are not buying Intel based tablets.
 - cryptoz 16y ago
 > It needs to have higher specs, as it is running a knocked off Java What? This makes no sense at all. How are those two thoughts related at all? And Android runs real Java, not "knocked off" Java. > And as good as honeycomb cereal is, Android is pretty sluggish and ugly compared to iOS. iOS is gorgeous. Oh I see, you're a troll. I'll respond anyway. Android is not sluggish compared to iOS; especially given that Honeycomb isn't even out in the wild running on real devices yet, this statement is totally unfounded. I'll grant you that iOS is gorgeous, though. But so is Honeycomb. :) > Nobody bought the iPad because of specs, aside from the battery life. If you think they did, you still do not understand the market, and are probably baffled that people are not buying Intel based tablets. iPad was a new product in a new form factor. It was a "game-changer". Nobody bought it based on specs because they had nothing to compare it to. I'm definitely not suggesting that people will buy new tablets based on specs either, but it will matter that the two devices are in the same league.

Andrewski 16y ago

What an awful name. Of course the iPad gas a lame name, but at least it has an obvious pronunciation. I see "Xoom" and say "exhume" which means to dig a body up. I think I smell the reek of death. Now if the exhume was only say, $300 for the wifi only unit, they'd have something. Even $400 would be too much for what consumers will call a "generic iPad" as even the hard-up could find another $99 if they already had $400 to drop on a toy like a tablet. Exhume indeed. This may illustrate to clever marketers that for a lot of people, the obvious and seemingly correct pronunciation for a clever brand might bite them. My grandpa called Qwest "queue west" as they made him wait for a customer service agent too long for his liking. He was onto something.

sandipc 16y ago
when the Apple tablet was announced, the chosen name for the device was subject to ridicule for weeks on the internet. After it became one of the fastest selling tech products ever, the internet whiners were nowhere to be found...
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- Andrewski 16y ago
  What do you mean? The name is still awful. Hell I am writing this on my iPad, and I still think it is an awful name. On edit: you missed my main point, which is that Xoom has no clear pronunciation. Is it "zoom?" I am supposing that is what they want me to call it, but "exhume" is what it looks like.

kenjackson 16y ago

That $600 is a good price point for this device. I'm tempted to get one...

Tichy 16y ago

The main problem for me is that they destroyed trust by refusing to update the Android OS on some of their phones. Presumably the same thing will happen on the tablet. I wish for a "Nexus One" of Honeycomb tablets...

kbob 16y ago
Google got burned when they tried to sell Nexus phones directly; they couldn't match the carriers' bundled prices. But it might make sense for Google to sell a WiFi-only tablet directly.
- r00fus 16y ago
  Via which retail store? They need someone to actually sell the product, and Google has no experience with end-customer product sales.
  - wmf 16y ago
    The Nexus S is in Best Buy. Having no retail for the Nexus One was dumb, but Google has learned.
- rudiger 16y ago
  If Google can't match $600-800 dollars for a tablet device, that's just embarrassing.
  - kbob 16y ago
    Exactly. The Nexus One at $599 (I think) was competing against Verizon's Droid at $99 with rebate. A Google WiFi-only tablet would compete against the WiFi-only Xoom at $599 and could be price-competitive.
- Tichy 16y ago
  They don't have to sell it directly, only guarantee OS updates. Speaking of which, somehow I still don't have Gingerbread on my N1.

ugh 16y ago

$600 is a good price point. Great to see that they will not only be selling a $800 model.

npalli 16y ago

Wow, completely amazing pricing. Going to get the wi-fi version. This completely blow away the current iPad. Has front/back facing camera with video capture, better resolution, dual-core processor with graphics acceleration, HDMI, USB, microSD, Android 3.0 etc. Good strategy of going after the high end. After all, in another 6 months you will be able to get the current iPad like specs on the low end for $300/$400 from commodity players.

bane 16y ago

$299 for the 3g, $250 for the wifi, then we'll talk.

snitko 16y ago

There's also Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1" coming out soon, wonder what the price would be for that device. With all this new subscription policy mess Apple is making, I'd rather be sure I have a Kindle and an Audible apps and not overpaying for the content, so I'm seriously considering an Android tablet.