Motorola Xoom - 41% say price is biggest factor

[feverhost]

According to a poll from PCMag, the biggest concern for the Xoom is its price. 41% of people polled say the price is their biggest concern and/or the biggest reason why they would not or the reason they would buy this tablet.

source - Poll: Price, Not Honeycomb, Is the Key to Android Tablet Success | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

 

[feverhost]

...and I 100% agree. This is a U.S 2011 economy, not 2005. Quite a lot of people cannot justify spending $800 on a tablet. I hate to bring it up again, but there is a reason why a company like Walmart still does very well in a recession. For most people, price always wins!

When you only have $400... you will purchase the best device for your money. If a tablet is $800, you immediately pass... price wins.

 

[Carbira1]

Yep this is why the Xoom is going to be an epic failure.

 

[KSR]

The Xoom seems to be amazing, but I too will not purchase it due to it's price. Just too steep of a cost for a tablet.

Sent from my sdk using Android Tablet Forum App

 

[fbales]

I'd love to have a Xoom, but I recently got a Velocity Cruz Reader. Why? $99 at Best Buy (and it was a birthday present). On a tablet I read ebooks, I listen to audio books, I use a calendar, write notes, play a little music, and have a few photos. Watch very little video, but would like to watch Video at blogs, like this, and engadget and gizmodo, etc. Would also like to do a little email. I have been using a Palm TX for years, so the Cruz Reader ought to be a nice step up. I do plan to root it, and add another wifi antenna. Oh, PDFs really suck on the Palm TX so I'll probably buy a good PDF reader. So why would I spend $800 for a tablet, when I can do everything I need to on a $99 tablet/reader? Okay, if I could afford it I would buy a Xoom because I love tech gadgets, but $800????? I don't think so. --Frank

 

[Comacine]

It does make sense, but I think that "Android tablet success" is a much bigger topic than number of units sold. I cannot consider that the Android tablet market has or can reach success with underpowered hardware or a less-than-great version of the OS. Yes, the price is a huge factor too. But Android tabs under $250 have been around for quite a while, and I don't think many would consider the current state of the market a "success".

 

[newnick]

Regardless which brand or OS, tablet to me is not replacing my laptop and desktop. I use them for serious gaming, photoshop, business plans, video editing, Music mixing... Tablet is just not there yet. I dont mind spend $1000 on a powerful laptop/desktop. But asking for $800 for a tablet is just too much and too greedy. That's why I opt for samsung galaxy tab instead of apple ipad as I see more value in the g-tab than in the ipad.

I agree with the majority. Price and value would be the single most important factor to Android based tablet to win the battle against Apple. Especially the identity of Android is still weak to the population. honestly if US economy and job market are not in a deep trouble, Android might not stand a chance as most people would just shell out $500-$800 to go for Apple ipad. Look at the MP3 market a few years ago. How many of us would even think of going for a $70 creative MP3 player, a $100 SOny late comer or a $160 microsoft zune? Most if not all people would be happy to just pay $200 to $400 for a ipod or itouch.

Dont forget most android adoptor are very new to the platform (inclduing myself). So, not many users are higly attached to Android platform and the services while Apple fan are long term followers for almost a decade. Now the economy is on Android's side and manufacturers should capitalize this opportunity. Big manufacturers such as Moto, HP, Samsung should put the price advantage on their side and re-shape the tablet maket by offering a high quality yet value package at reasonable (not super cheap) price in order to take over market share from apple. If they are too greedy too fast, people will just turn back to apple's machine including current Android users.

Also, the communication from either google, android machine manufacturers to the end users has been very weak. Noise is not enough at all. But thanks to Verizon and motorola for it's Droid series communication last year. It did bring the awareness and positioning of Android (and droid) to consumers. But that need to be continued from the whole android community, not only from one or two companies. While Samsung, HP or Asus had some major lunch later this year, they sure are lacking in the communication front.

 

[androidjim]

Even with the bad economy, it seems like people are still spending money on high priced toys, just look at all the Macbooks you see in coffee shops and airports. Those people could be using $300 netbooks.

Then again, it seems like most of the big spenders are pulled in by Apple ... so price will certainly be very important for the Xoom. When it comes to Android vs iPad, we're not talking just about features, or OS, we're talking about Apple's ability to mesmerizer the public. Android 3.0 certainly looks like it has a lot of advantages over iOS at this point and geeks understand that ... but price may speak louder to the masses.

 

[strider_mt2k]

It is overpriced.

period

 

[8IRon8Man3]

My wife really wants a big screened device to read books on at night. She also would like the added features of a tablet. An iPad costs way to much IMO and that's the main reason for our interest in android tablets. If the iPad was $200 then I wouldn't even consider it, anything that costs as much or more than an iPad is just setting itself up for failure IMO. Especially considering the fact that there really isn't a major practical business application for tablet devices right now.
Cumberland university is giving new students iPads, which is idiotic given the fact that you can get students full function laptops for doing ACTUAL WORK. That $600-$800 is better spent in so many ways.

 

[regnaD kciN]

If the iPad was $200 then I wouldn't even consider it, anything that costs as much or more than an iPad is just setting itself up for failure IMO.

That should really be the final word on the matter. In terms of tablets, Apple has the brand-name recognition, the cachet, and several years of built-up app development and other support. If someone has the money to buy an iPad, and hasn't done so yet, it's unlikely that they're in the target market for a tablet of any kind. I'd say that, barring some sort of hardware/feature breakthrough (3D or something equally spectacular), the $400 now being charged for the Viewsonic gTablet is about the upper limit for Android tablets. Above that, and most people will just opt for the equivalent offering from Apple.

 

[Wolfwalker527]

I just saw something new over at MyTabletLife.com website regarding a new rumor around the Motorola Xoom. Apparently there is some information from the FCC website about Motorola requesting testing of a 'Wireless tablet with embedded WLAN" that has Bluetooth, 802.11 a & b & g & n, but there is no mention of radio phone. That has some people speculating that there may be a Wi-Fi only version of the Xoom (or some other Motorola tablet) in the pipeline. The article was posted by Randy Pinneta via Droid-Life on 02/09/11.

 

[rokky]

Another thing to consider about the price rumors is whether that is an unsubsidized price or not. If this is tied to a carrier's cell network, then there should be a subsidy of some sort to bring this down to a competitive price with the Galaxy at least. The item just above about a wifi-only model being tested by the FCC suggests a lower-spec model (if only in the lack of 3g/4g) to be sold for less.

Motorola really ought to be paying attention to all this accidental (I hope) FUD, and give clearer indications about probable pricing to get people thinking more seriously about planning for buying the Xoom instead of writing it off as an $800 extravagance - unless the rumors are right, and Moto is intent on killing this tablet before birth.