How many of you will consider an Android Tablet?

[xune]

The Motorola Xoom will Cost… $800!
By dag | January 21, 2011 | no comments
According to Android Central, Motorola’s upcoming tablet, the Xoom, will cost a whopping $799, almost twice as much as the cheapest iPad available today, and $70 more than the (almost) equivalent 32GB 3G iPad.

Motorola seems fairly confident that its tablet will be a major smash hit, as the price of the Xoom seems incredibly high when compared to what’s already available today. Sure, the tablet will sport a dual-core CPU, and the latest version of Android, but when the iPad 2 ships in a couple of months, these advantages may prove to be short-lived. In other words, and unless Apple significantly increases the price of its upcoming tablet, understanding Motorola’s pricing policy is challenging – at best.

Read More »
The Motorola Xoom will Cost… $800! | PadGadget

Verizon appears to have only just added Minimum Advertised Pricing for the Motorola Xoom to its internal systems, but already it’s been leaked out by more than one source. Android Central has the damning evidence, which lists an $800 levy for any prospective owners of the flagship Android Honeycomb device.

Motorola Xoom priced at $800 at a minimum, according to Verizon leak - firstdroid.com

 

[freebirdforever]

Motorola Xoom priced at $800 at a minimum, according to Verizon leak - firstdroid.com

This is a deal breaker for me. If its true.

 

[Superbike81]

I think this pricing strategy might be Motorola's way to get more people to buy it with 3G service at a lower subsidized price. Much like when the iPhone 3G came out, if you just wanted to buy the phone it almost $900, at least here in Japan.

From what I read (again, only rumors) the Wi-Fi only version is supposed to be released shortly before the 3G version.

Motorola's has to know that people won't pay the "Apple tax" that the iPad gets for a Motorola product. They would be pricing themselves right out of the market. Especially when similar tablets from other companies are going to be half that price. Maybe they are doing the same thing Samsung did with the Galaxy Tab, price it high at launch and then drop it a few months later.

Either way $800 is too much, you don't base your pricing on Apple's pricing because people will naturally expect to pay more for an Apple device.

 

[matt_90036]

Either way $800 is too much, you don't base your pricing on Apple's pricing because people will naturally expect to pay more for an Apple device.

Yeah pricing it that high is just plain stupid especially that apple has the majority of the market right now.

 

[Thphilli]

Well, according to Best Buy it is launching on the 17th of february, so not that much longer of a wait.

I predict pricing along these lines:

Wifi only: $550
3g: $700 unsubsidized
4g: $800 unsubsidized (this summer)

 

[matt_90036]

I will never get a tablet or phone tied to a contract with a big a$$ carrier imprinting or software junk. If they can't compete with apple pricewise or having junk free software then I will stick with my 1g iPad.

 

[Superbike81]

Motorola has stated that they will make the Motorola interface and apps available as a downloadable upgrade for those who want it, but you don't have to get it. You can keep it plain old stock Android 3.0

Also, sources from Best Buy are now saying $699 will be the price for the 32GB 3G. Still too expensive, but better than $799. Here's hoping the Wi-Fi model will be $599.

 

[Superbike81]

You know the 32GB 3G iPad is $729.99, right. Thirty dollars less for a dual core tablet with better specs is not too high.

The Xoom is trying to be leader of the pack. You can hardly expect it to meet those expectations and be as cheap as the almost-there tablets being sold now. I'm sure there will be middle of the pack tablets available for less shortly.

I agree that given the specs, it's a good value, but most people don't see it this way.

The general public already expects to pay a premium for an Apple product. So pricing the Xoom right with the iPad is a mistake, it needs to be significantly cheaper (at least $100) to really sway people away from the iPad.

 

[twerppoet]

You are probably right about public perception, but it may not matter. Remember when the iPad was announce everyone was sure it was going to cost at least $1000. Many pundits and manufacturers said it was not possible to make a tablet for less. Apple blew those predictions away. Of course it was only a week or so latter that some of the same analysts and pundits regrouped and declared that Apple was over charging, adding the infamous Apple tax. How else were they going to recycle those old articles?

Since then no one has offered a compeling product for significantly less than the iPad. I suspect that the simple economics of producing brand new cutting edge devices isn't going to allow for major price drops for a while. Not until the tablet market has stabilized the design, and the availability of components and assembly facilities catch up with the unexpected demand.

 

[Thphilli]

Quality Android Tablets do not have to undercut the iPad to be successful. Successful is not defined the same for Android tablets as it is for the iPad. The iPad has the Apple on the back, so no matter what it is going to sell millions. That is just the current reality. If Android tablets come out and show increased functionality with a much better feature set, then it won't matter how much the iPad costs. The iPad has always been priced competitively, and I wouldn't expect many high quality tablets to be able to undercut it by much.

 

[BMW Z1]

Was going to buy an Archos 9 but after reading the reviews everywhere. Even on the Archos own web forum. There was too many issues with their products (drivers, OS, etc..). That why I brought the iPad. After saying all that, I would buy another tablet with any other OS like Android but will wait from the bugs to worked out first.

I will never buy another Archos device, every device I have had from them so far has been a pile of poo. The last device was an Archos 9, sold it within a week

Then there was the Archos 7 Android, that you had to buy codes to watch films LOL.

Im tempted at the Galaxy Tab, but would also keep my Ipad aswell

 

[Superbike81]

Tons of information and pictures and a SDK released today for Honeycomb. I'm not going to post them all, but a simple Google search will bring them up.

Looks outstanding!

 

[donka]

Not sure about outstanding but it certainly looks promising.

 

[Revennne]

Generally I am pleased with my iPad, but with the choice of tablets now I would not choose another iPad. I hate being dictated to by Steve Jobs as to what I can or cannot have access to. My biggest gripe is not having Adobe Flash Drive. This limits my access to various videos, music, and just lately, audio books.
Managing my photos has also presented me with problems, when I try to synchronize with iTunes I find that I have duplicates and triplicates of photos and there is no means of deleting them, perhaps someone can advise me on that problem!
I would also like to have a web cam, a USB port also an hdmi port.
Most of the tablets I have read about have all these features, so, no, my next tablet will not be an Apple, to my mind they are too controlling.

 

[Superbike81]

Google did a great walkthrough of Honeycomb today and it looks great! The anatomy app is like my dream come true, nothing on iPad compares to it. The gaming performance also looks great on it, much better than previous Android versions. There is 50 minute video posted on YouTube of the conference going over the features, check it out if you are interested.