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Motorola Xoom gets an official price tag: $799

By | February 16, 2011, 9:41am PST

Summary: Pricing for the Motorola Xoom tablet, which debuted at CES 2011 in Las Vegas last month, is now official.

Pricing for the Motorola Xoom tablet, which debuted at CES 2011 in Las Vegas last month, is now official.

According to Reuters, the unsubsidized price for the 4G-upgradeable, 32GB tablet will be $799 with Verizon Wireless, and a Wi-Fi only version will be approximately $600.

There was some worry previously that the Android 3.0-based Xoom would retail for over $1,000. Thankfully, that’s not the case. As for the release date, that is still unknown, but rumors still persist on a release before the end of the month, particularly on February 24. The Xoom will also be rolled out in Europe during the second quarter.

Are you planning to buy a Motorola Xoom?

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Topics

Thomson Reuters Corp., Price Tag, Motorola Inc., Motorola Xoom, Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for ZDNet based in San Francisco.

Disclosure

Rachel King

Rachel King has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted in this blog.

Biography

Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for CBS Interactive in San Francisco. Before serving as a contributing editor at ZDNet in New York City for two years, she previously worked for The Business Insider, FastCompany.com, CNN's San Francisco bureau and the U.S. Department of State. Rachel has also written for MainStreet.com, Irish America Magazine and the New York Daily News, among others. Rachel has a B.A. in Mass Communications and History from the University of California, Berkeley and a M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University, where she served as art director for the student magazine, Plated.

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Artificial market conditions
daboochmeister 18th Feb 2011
@frgough - users DO care about features and capability. It's been an artificially constrained market until recently. With only 1 credible Android competitor to the iPad out there, Android tablets took 22% of the tablet market in the 4th quarter of last year. The market conditions will dampen down to normal models, and then consumers will become aware of and start buying based on features/capabilities.
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RE: Motorola Xoom gets an official price tag: $799
Playdrv4me Updated - 16th Feb 2011
This would have been a much more attention-getting (in the good way, not the link baiting way) post with the $600.00 Wi-Fi only price-point. *Now* my interest is piqued despite my tepid response to larger tabs. Ok, so we're at 100.00 more than the Wi-Fi iPad, but I'd say there's 100.00 more worth of stuff here unless the iPad 2 really ups the ante. This assumes $600.00 on the dot though, even 649 would be detrimental to the Wi-Fi model's take rate. 799 for the version with cellular radios on the other hand, is completely uninteresting and long expected.
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RE: Motorola Xoom gets an official price tag: $799
snaconst 16th Feb 2011
@Playdrv4me

Actually, it's the same price as the Wi-Fi iPad at the same capacity. The difference is that you can't get a smaller capacity. This forces an apples-to-apples comparison for the price. Interesting.
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For 700 USD, you get a 64 GB iPad.
Bruizer 16th Feb 2011
@snaconst

If we assume 100 or so USD savings for WiFi only Xoom, we get 700 for a 32GB tablet with 4x the RAM and dual core.

Of course, after a year you can now get the 64GB iPad WiFi only for 600.
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RE: Motorola Xoom gets an official price tag: $799
Droid101 16th Feb 2011
@Playdrv4me $799 is unsubsidized. So... with a contract it'll probably be around the price of the WiFi version.
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RE: Motorola Xoom gets an official price tag: $799
Pete "athynz" Athens 16th Feb 2011
@Droid101 And with that contract will then be MORE than the wifi only version due to the 2 years of monthly payments on the 3G contract.
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So >$200/more than a 10 month old WiFi iPad.
Bruizer 16th Feb 2011
Sounds like a bargin after $1199.
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RE: Motorola Xoom gets an official price tag: $799
Droid101 16th Feb 2011
@Bruizer
What are you blathering about? The $600 price point is the same for the WiFi 32GB iPad... except that the Xoom has a ton of better features and much faster internet loading times.
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You forgot the better things
Michael Alan Goff 16th Feb 2011
-1080p video
-Better resolution
-More RAM and better CPU
-Front and rear camera

Some people might think that USB and Flash are important, but I can live without them.
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@goff256
fr_gough 16th Feb 2011
Right. Because the iPod vs. everyone else wars taught us that feature checklists determine sales. Oh. Wait. Sorry. It taught us just the exact opposite.
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Actually, it isn't features that win
Michael Alan Goff 16th Feb 2011
It's features that matter. The RAM and CPU will add to speed, which people like. Android 3.0 will just look better, which people like. The 1080p video is something that people like. The cameras are a good thing as well, because the iPhone 4 conditioned people to like it.

As for the iPod vs everything else, that was more of a quality issue. Apple was able to make something of higher quality than anyone else. That might happen with the iPad in competition with the Xoom, but Motorola is a good hardware company and Android was redesigned for tablets.

It won't be so easy this time around.
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Like the WiFi only Galaxy Tab?
Bruizer 16th Feb 2011
@Droid101

200 sounds a bit steep for 3G as it typically is closer to 100. So expect a 700 wiFi only cost.
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@goff256
fr_gough 16th Feb 2011
1990 is calling. They want your paradigm back. Nobody is complaining about the speed of the iPad now. Sorry, the "I gotta have a faster CPU because I'm waiting for my computer" days are over. And there never were "I gotta have 1080p video on my 10" display" days. There were also never "I gotta have a camera because I hate it when I can't pick up a device the size of a notepad and take a picture with it" days.

However, you are right about one thing. There is a group that thinks Apple's user experience is all about a pretty looking UI. They're the desktop linux crowd.
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RE: Motorola Xoom gets an official price tag: $799
Kabcock 17th Feb 2011
@Droid101

How many times have I seen a product with "a ton better features" on paper fail to live up to the promise. Apple has a proven product that works very well. Android still has many issues and is comparatively unpolished by comparison. I bought a Droid because on paper it looked better then the iPhone. After using it for 8 months I wish I had gone with the iPhone, it is simply a better experience.

Also remember that by the time the Zoom rolls out it will be competing against the iPad2 who's specs are still unknown but inevitably superior to the original iPad. The final kicker is that the entry point of the iPad is still $100 less then the Zoom.
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RE: Motorola Xoom gets an official price tag: $799
Michael Alan Goff 17th Feb 2011
The "I gotta have a faster CPU days are not over, even if they are for you. There is a large segment of the market that will look at numbers and assume one is better.

People do want 1080p, even if you don't.

People do like to take pictures of themselves and others, and this is a convenience thing.

The desktop Linux crowd must be bigger than I thought, since pretty UIs have always been Apple's MO. But I also think the UX overall will, potentially, be something that Apple won't be able to corner anymore. Android 3.0, like I have already said, is built for Tablets.
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Artificial market conditions
daboochmeister 18th Feb 2011
@frgough - users DO care about features and capability. It's been an artificially constrained market until recently. With only 1 credible Android competitor to the iPad out there, Android tablets took 22% of the tablet market in the 4th quarter of last year. The market conditions will dampen down to normal models, and then consumers will become aware of and start buying based on features/capabilities.
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RE: Motorola Xoom gets an official price tag: $799
ipadsucks 16th Feb 2011
I rather buy this Xoom than the ipad or ipad 2. this blows away ipad or ipad 2 anytime. Now i know why ipad 2 is coming out as apple idiots finally realize the ipad was just useless to use and hardly anything to connect to it. Has who cares of apps some of them are just useless has well. I seen the xoom in action and have to say it twice has advance than the ipad or ipad 2.
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Still, I want a WiFi only version
DonnieBoy 16th Feb 2011
NT
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LOL
oncall 16th Feb 2011
@ipadsucks

Well your name kind of says it all. ipadsucks sayz "ipadsucks"
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RE: Motorola Xoom gets an official price tag: $799
ipadsucks 16th Feb 2011
@oncall well dont need to remind me as thanks for thinking of ipad has it is today SUCKS!
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RE: Motorola Xoom gets an official price tag: $799
Pete "athynz" Athens 16th Feb 2011
@ipadsucks And how do you know the Xoom will blow away the iPad2? Have you seen any verified specs for the ipad2? No? Then your post was nothing more than the usual FUD from an ABAer.
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RE: Motorola Xoom gets an official price tag: $799
ipadsucks 16th Feb 2011
@athynz yes apple troll i have seen the ipad 2 features already and nope it just a copycat from apple. Xoom still has more better features than coming ipad 2. So yes Xoom is the top list to buy than ipad 2 besides ipad 2 will not arrive until May why wait when Xoom will be out sooner and have all great advance features.
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RE: Motorola Xoom gets an official price tag: $799
ipadsucks 16th Feb 2011
@athynz also i know the Xoom will blow away the ipad 2 because i was at CES and saw the many advance features and since it runs very fast and yes i can watch live streaming videos on the web due to great Flash capabilities which ipad and ipad 2 will not have.
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Xoom might or might not blow away the iPad 2
Michael Alan Goff 16th Feb 2011
But you have to admit, it will force Apple to step up its game, and that's good for everybody.
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You have no clue what the next iPad holds.
Bruizer 16th Feb 2011
@ipadsucks

And yet you are still blabbering.
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RE: Motorola Xoom gets an official price tag: $799
Kabcock 17th Feb 2011
@ipadsucks

Now, you have no idea what the iPad2's specs are and no idea how the Zoom will even work in the real world or Android 3 for that matter yet you know one sucks and one is great. Ignorance and a big mouth are always a tell tail sign of a weak mind. I feel sorry for your parents.
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Too expensive. We need a no frills version of Xoom, WiFi only, for UNDER
DonnieBoy Updated - 16th Feb 2011
600.
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RE: Motorola Xoom gets an official price tag: $799
Badgered 16th Feb 2011
@DonnieBoy

Well, if they can come in at $599 or less... to avoid the Apple tax on subscriptions, people may scoop up alot of them.

In any case, the tablet market is beginning to look interesting.
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What Apple tax on subscriptions?
Bruizer 16th Feb 2011
@Badgered

Oh yea. The one that people make up.
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RE: Motorola Xoom gets an official price tag: $799
DustinU 17th Feb 2011
@Bruizer --- The tax he is referring to is the plans that Apple just announced to start charging companies 30% for subscriptions people use through the iPad/iPhone.
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RE: Motorola Xoom gets an official price tag: $799
ipadsucks 16th Feb 2011
What a joke people who first purchase the ipad will have to decide if they want get ipad 2 LOL they should have added these features in frist place. Glad I never gotten the ipad has i knew there was going to be more better tablets out in the market soon! @oncall maybe you can just dream you had the Xoom instead of ipad. happy
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RE: Motorola Xoom gets an official price tag: $799
Pete "athynz" Athens 16th Feb 2011
I have to wonder if Motorola saw the backlash over the $1,110 price point and decided to drop the price as much as they could to get buyers interested?

In all fairness the other question should be where did the BestBuy ad with the $1,100 price point on the Xoom originate?
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RE: Motorola Xoom gets an official price tag: $799
hoaxoner 16th Feb 2011
I personally do not any tablet computer that does not have a base. Not unlike the oft-rumored Lenovo U1. If you were to offer a sandy bridge powered laptop, with discrete GPU, with a detachable face that is powered by an ARM processor with 16 GB or 32 GB flash.

I would be interested in that device. I would also be willing to spend money on that device.
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Don't Forget You Can't Use Wireless
Ron Burgundy 16th Feb 2011
Unless you pay for one month of service..otherwise you've got a brick.
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RE: Motorola Xoom gets an official price tag: $799
Droid101 16th Feb 2011
@Ron Burgundy
WRONG. Stop spreading FUD. You can't use the Verizon Hotspot Service if you don't buy a data plan. You can still use other Wifi without issue.

Thanks, try again though.
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RE: Motorola Xoom gets an official price tag: $799
Ron Burgundy 16th Feb 2011
@Droid101 Aww..did the wittle droid shill get his ******* in a wad?
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RE: Motorola Xoom gets an official price tag: $799
rsamuels9 16th Feb 2011
Here a link to the Apple website on iPad pricing . http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_ipad/family/ipad?aid=AIC-WWW-NAUS-K2-CONFIGURE-IPAD.
The Xoom 32 GB WiFi at $600 would be the same price as the iPad 32 GB WiFi only pricing at the moment. Depending on when the iPad2 comes out, Apple will drop the price and or GB and lower the price on the original iPad. The $799 is a higher than Apple iPad 3g + WiFi, but they not the same if you add what the Xoom has and the iPad does not.

At the end of the day, if you want it and can buy it more power to you. We purchase two iPad at work and they are finding it's not all that.
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I'll get a Xoom if it does content creation better than the iPad
Tech watcher Updated - 16th Feb 2011
I hope the hard-working app developers are also rushing to get their Honeycomb-optimized apps ready for Xoom's launch.

I know all the content-consumption apps -- web browsing, video streaming, a handful of games -- will already be there to woo the crowds at the points-of-sale. If I see an app for document creation and presentation that I like (I'm using iPad's Pages now, and can't say I'm overwhelmed), I am definitely going to buy one.

If not, I'll start shopping for light notebooks again or wait for HP's Touchpad. Win7-based tablets will not be considered for now...I'll take a look at the Win8 tablets a year or two from now.
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price may kill the product interest
bahluv 16th Feb 2011
At this price people wait before next ipad launch , it it win xoom need to be in the shelf and wait for customer to pick
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RE: Motorola Xoom gets an official price tag: $799
bradavon 17th Feb 2011
That means almost for sure the UK price will be ?799 ($1288). They almost always just change the symbol. The Euro price is likely to also be ?799 ($1084). Grr!
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RE: Motorola Xoom gets an official price tag: $799
Traxxion 17th Feb 2011
Ouch! That puts me out of the running then....

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