Newsletter 
“Competing with Apple you have to deliver premium products,” Jha said, adding Xoom software was also upgradable. (Reuters) This is a very interesting statement from Jha, Motorola’s CEO for two main reasons. First being, “competing with Apple.” This is interesting because the forthcoming Xoom tablet (that has yet to see a definite release date) has been confirmed to cost $799 unsubsidized through Verizon Wireless and ‘around’ $600 for the WiFi-only model. Now, the Xoom is a nice piece of hardware, no doubts about that, but considering the nature of the economy today, and the fact that people just aren’t going out and purchasing whatever they want, doing their research and spending a lot more wisely, how do they expect to match the sales of the iPad when there are no multiple price points? Also, what about the whole having to pay for a month’s worth of data in order to unlock the WiFi (which should be given without penalty like every phone and tablet out there that has WiFi)? Granted, the cheapest data plan would only be $20, but it’s about the principle of the matter. The second matter being, “adding Xoom software was also upgradable.” What exactly does he mean by this? Is he talking about the 4G upgradability that was mentioned when the tablet was first announced? Because that doesn’t seem possible given the fact that 3G hardware and 4G hardware is most likely different, meaning customers would have to buy a whole new unit to utilize 4G. Or, is he talking about the software as in Android Honeycomb? If this is the intent, iOS is also software upgradable and he is not setting the two apart in any way.
But, regardless of these two questions, we now have definite pricing on the long-awaited Xoom and it seems as if the rumors/leaks held true. And Honeycomb is looking to be a very solid OS that Android users everywhere will love; time will only tell. Now only if we had word on when both of these will be available to purchase and try out.
What are your thoughts on this pricing? Will it lead you to hold out and wait for the Optimus Pad? Maybe the Galaxy Tab 10.1? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: Reuters