“Motorola mobility chief Sanjay Jha confirmed that the company’s new Xoom tablet will go on sale in the U.S. at $800, a higher price tag than current market leader Apple’s iPad,” Ben Rooney reports for The Wall Street Journal.
“Mr. Jha, speaking to reporters at Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress, said a device that was 4G compatible on U.S. carrier Verizon’s network was worth the extra money. A 32GB iPad with 3G currently retails in the U.S. for $729,” Rooney reports. “‘We felt that our ability to deliver 50Mb/s would justify the $799 price point. It is 32GB with 3G and a free upgrade to 4G. Being competitive with iPad is important. We feel that from the hardware and capabilities we deliver we are at least competitive and in a number of ways better [than the iPad].'”
MacDailyNews Take: Jha apparently doesn’t understand the value of a coherent ecosystem or thinks his potential customers don’t. In either case, he’s wrong.
Rooney continues, “He did admit that Samsung’s experience with the Galaxy Tab had shown that the sell-through and the return rate on tablets launched so far have been ‘concerning.’ Nevertheless the company was going to launch a product more expensive than the market leader. He promised a Wi-Fi-only version would also go on sale. He would not be drawn on the exact price, but said it would be ‘meaningfully cheaper. The price is set by iPad at $599 and we will be right around there.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Dude’s got nothin’. Plus, he’ll be trying to compete against what Apple unveiled over a year and 15+ million units ago. Oh, to be there as he watches Apple’s iPad 2 unveiling!
Rooney continues, “In a wide-ranging, and at times admirably frank, interview, Mr. Jha also spoke of his concerns about how the Microsoft-Nokia deal would make it harder for existing players in that area. He hinted at his frustration at having to tie his company so closely to someone else’s product, Google’s Android operating system… Almost ruefully he said he wished Motorola was able to control its own operating system, but he lacked the scale to build his own ecosystem.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The only place Xoom is going to zoom is straight into Costco clearance bins.
Maybe they should hire Tony Jaa to kick some ass…
4G is nothing but a marketing ploy. It’s certainly not significant speed increases.
Some of you people, wow. If you’re so smart, why aren’t YOU running major companies? Oh, that’s right; you’re not so smart. Half of you likely couldn’t run Motorola or Apple. The other half probably can’t run home.
While I think the price of the XOOM is too high, you can be sure that the powers that be at Motorola will take home more money this year than any three of us put together! They should care what we think about the value of their products, but I’m sure they could not care any less what we think about their business models. All that talk is just stupid.
@the pot
” The reality is that Apple has failed as many times as it may have succeeded.”
Are you unaware of Apple’s tremendous successes, growth an profitability in the last eleven years.
Please list the successes and failures that you refer to.
You are way beyond clueless. Your post reads like
it was written by Dell Dumbo!
Sorry if I’m being lazy and it has been noted here already, but did anyone notice that if you purchase the $800 unit, the only way to activate and use it as a wifi only device is to pay for at least one month of 3G connectivity. So add at least $20 to that $800 price. Not cool.
Sorry if I’m being lazy and it has been noted here already, but did anyone notice that if you purchase the $800 unit, the only way to activate and use it as a wifi only device is to pay for at least one month of 3G connectivity. So add at least $20 to that $800 price. Not cool.