Motorola leader Sanjay Jha on Wednesday confirmed prices for the Xoom. The Android 3.0 flagship will cost $800 with Verizon contract-free, while a Wi-Fi version will still cost $600. He justified the prices by noting that mounting a challenge to the iPad demanded high prices.
"Competing with Apple you have to deliver premium products," he said.
He still wouldn't provide a ship date beyond the end of February but did hint that Motorola was contemplating the option of its own app store as a complement to Android Market. Despite loyalty to Android, he said he "hope[d] as hell" there would be three to four operating systems so there wouldn't be an OS monopoly.
The pricing is a risky strategy for Motorola, which has perceived itself as a savior for possible iPad buyers. While the Xoom's 32GB of storage makes the $600 Wi-Fi model on par with a same-capacity iPad, the $800 price of the 3G version is $70 higher than what Apple offers under similar terms. Apple also doesn't lock the iPad to a single carrier so far where Verizon is not only planning to keep it locked but is crippling the Wi-Fi for customers who don't pay for at least a month of 3G service with activation, raising the real-world price well over $830.
The Xoom is much more advanced than the current iPad and may be at least very competitive with the next iPad when it arrives. Without 16GB base models, though, it will carry a much higher entry price.
He still wouldn't provide a ship date beyond the end of February but did hint that Motorola was contemplating the option of its own app store as a complement to Android Market. Despite loyalty to Android, he said he "hope[d] as hell" there would be three to four operating systems so there wouldn't be an OS monopoly.
The pricing is a risky strategy for Motorola, which has perceived itself as a savior for possible iPad buyers. While the Xoom's 32GB of storage makes the $600 Wi-Fi model on par with a same-capacity iPad, the $800 price of the 3G version is $70 higher than what Apple offers under similar terms. Apple also doesn't lock the iPad to a single carrier so far where Verizon is not only planning to keep it locked but is crippling the Wi-Fi for customers who don't pay for at least a month of 3G service with activation, raising the real-world price well over $830.
The Xoom is much more advanced than the current iPad and may be at least very competitive with the next iPad when it arrives. Without 16GB base models, though, it will carry a much higher entry price.
0 comments