It used to be that Apple's products were considered the high-price luxury items.
Now every other company is struggling to come close to Apple's prices and often failing and relying on tricks and contracts and other fees.
I mean really, a Xoom for $800 + 1 month's service fee to use it as Wi-fi unit. So the price isn't really $800 because at $800, it doesn't connect to anything, not even your own home's Wi-Fi spot.
For now, spec-wise, the Xoom has the advantage over the iPad. An advantage that will disappear with the iPad 2. The iPad 2 will have at least similar specs if not better specs and the iPad will still be backed by Apple's massive eco-system with tens of thousands of iPad specific Apps.
The Xoom will end up being a niche product that only the most loyal of Android fans will buy.
Ironic indeed!
If you can’t wait to get your hands-on the world’s first Android 3.0 tablet, the Motorola XOOM, Best Buy will be offering it up for in-store purchase beginning February 24th.
The Motorola XOOM sports Android 3.0 (Honeycomb), a 10.1″ HD screen, Adobe Flash Player, 3G (upgradable to 4G LTE), front (2 MP webcam) and rear-facing (5 MP) cameras, and more.
The only drawbacks I’ve found so far with the Motorola XOOM is its price and connectivity requirements. Being that it’s the world’s first, it’s priced at $799.99. That’s a good chunk of a change for a tablet, that’s basically untested at this point. As for connectivity, you must subscribe to at least a month of service from Verizon. The pros, however, do seem to outweigh the cons, with the XOOM being upgradeable to LTE, coming with both Wi-Fi and 3G access (via Verizon’s network), a dual-core processor (NVIDIA’s Tegra T20), and a 10.1″ screen. Aside from the price, it seems like it could take away some of the iPad’s marketshare, that is until the next version of the iPad (iPad 2) ships.
If you want to guarantee that there will be a XOOM with your name on it, head over to a Best Buy store on February 24th–no more pre-orders allowed, according to the pre-order page.
In the meantime, check out the promo video below:
