The Motorola Xoom, preorder at Best Buy for... $1199!?!?!

J

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Well, we knew it was going to be expensive but, I have to admit, I'm suspecting this is a typo or someone completely fucked/screwed/mangled and the and decapitated the poor pooch...

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/13/motorola-xoom-up-for-pre-order-at-best-buy-for-1-199/

Even Engadget itself is pretty much stunned and baffled somewhat stupid by that pricing, with the same guess that it could just be a pricing error. Let's hope for Motorola's sake it is, 'cause if they seriously try to market this at that price everywhere, fuck it, it's dead before it even goes on sale.

Unbelievable...

UPDATE:

Apparently it was either a) a gimmick to increase awareness of the Xoom's approaching availability this month or b) Best Buy just being stupid, but the price has been "dropped" down to a far more respectable and even expected $799 - still a bit high considering, and the "one month of 3G service to enable the Wi-Fi" could be the "Achilles' Heel" of this product at launch.

We'll see what happens...
 
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Well, let the trendy enjoy their overpriced pad PCs. I'm going to stick with my desktops/laptops/android phone at these prices.
 
dang got a whole i5 laptop with better options in every area for that "place holder" price....
 
Yeah, they're on crack. HP as well. The market is already showing where the sweet spots are at, but the big box manufacturers are trying to force things to higher price points. When they fail and a few generations of their products don't sell they'll eventually come around. IMO at 7" they need to undercut the iPad, so maybe $299 for a WiFi only and maybe $399 for a 3G or 4G capable version. For the 10" models they need to look at $499 for the WiFi only version, and maybe $599 for the 3G/4G model--at that's at the high end IMO. And of course as generations progress those prices need to come down by $50-100 a year if they're going to continue with the 6 month product cycles. "Off brand" tablets like the Archos will need to be even cheaper, which they've already demonstrated is possible with a $300 10" model. Once decent alternatives become more widespread, Motorola, HP, and maybe even Apple will have no choice but to lower the ceiling on their non-flagship models. If the 7" Galaxy Tab is even made a year from now I expect it to be in the $199 range if they have any hope of it being competitive with what will be on the market, although this is HP and Apple we're talking about here so I'm not holding my breath. The Xoom is in all likelihood going to be relegated to being a footnote in the tablet wars that are brewing, mainly because of the absolutely idiotic price point they have planned for it. They could cut it in half and it's still too high for what consumers are willing to pay for a tablet. Niche products like Apple pull it off because their customers are already content paying more for some reason. HP, Dell, et al are about to find out the hard way that people aren't going to pay through the nose for tablets.

EDIT
http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/06/best-buy-ad-prices-motorola-xoom-at-800-affirms-february-24th/

Xoom is "only" $800, which is still about $200 too expensive for what it is.
 
For the record, sometimes prices in best buy are higher than launch price to discourage anyone from actually buying something. I remember seeing a $600 ish laptop say it cost $12,000. That was not the real price.



This could be the real price, but we don't know yet.
 
http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/06/verizon-locking-wifi-on-motorola-xoom-until-you-buy-one-month-of/

For me, locking Wifi on it until one month of 3G service is bought is unacceptable. Even more so at $800.

I have no idea WTF Motorola could be thinking other then that they want to try and kill this as soon as possible. It angers me that Google would show off the Xoom as their "flagship" Honeycomb tablet only to have Moto say later "we'll put Motoblur shit on it later," have Moto price it so high and then require everyone to buy at least a months worth of 3G service just to use the damn thing with your Wifi connection.
 
its been pulled - the price is $800

the engadget article has been updated
 
Yeah kind of figured this couldn't cost MORE than an i5 Windows 7 slate with dual mode digitizer with twice the SSD and eight times the RAM.
 
Hi All

At $800.00 the Zoom is still overpriced. Asus has a Slate with a i5 processor,ips screen
With a digitizet & they're asking $1000.00. I definitely won't be buying one at $800.00
 
Whatever, I don't even understand slate tablets let alone paying a grand for them. Perhaps this craze will foster development of more decent convertibles though where i can get real work done.
 
Not all slates are created equal. I love convertibles but I do a lot of inking on my Tablet PCs and I get lot of real work done with ink in Windows. The EP121 works very much like a convertible while in it's case. With an external keyboard and mouse it's about the same weight as a convertible HP tm2 and just as functional. Of course the EP121 doesn't really work well in one's lap with a physical keyboard but the tm2 is much thicker, indeed there are no .68" thick convertibles yet so the EP121 is a better pen and touch based note taker.

While the XOOM looks like a slick device the problem at $800 is how good of a productivity machine it can be as it's not going to beat a $800 or even $500 iPad as an entertainment device.
 
Yeah I just wish they had a micro KB that swiveled out from under EP121 . That's what I mean by development... I think we'll see it one day, replacing 3-4lb convertibles, but lugging around just a touch screen or extra parts and touch screen has little convenience and utility IMO.
 
I can't believe that they would think it's remotely acceptable to engage in practices like this.

You buy a product. You give them money, and they give you a piece of hardware. But wait! It's not really yours! You have to pay us to use it the way you want to!
 
Kumo said:
I can't believe that they would think it's remotely acceptable to engage in practices like this.

You buy a product. You give them money, and they give you a piece of hardware. But wait! It's not really yours! You have to pay us to use it the way you want to!
Click to expand...

I don't see a problem as Apple has been doing that with the iPhone and the iPod touch and the iPad since pretty much day one. ;)

</didn't_see_a_sarcastic_smiley_in_the_quoted_post_just_in_case> :p
 
Not quite. Apple doesn't make you get a data plan on their devices to be able to use the built in WiFi.

Imagine buying a new car, and discovering that you have to pay for at least a month of satellite radio to be able to use the FM and AM radio....
 
Wifi only $600.

What do you guys think? I really am tempted to pick one up. It's gonna be about $650 after taxes.....you can get an M11x for less than that. Hum.......
 
Armoured said:
Wifi only $600.

What do you guys think? I really am tempted to pick one up. It's gonna be about $650 after taxes.....you can get an M11x for less than that. Hum.......
Click to expand...

Now to wait for the hands on reviews from the USERS and some Tech Mag's. Then I'll buy the WiFi model
 
Armoured said:
Wifi only $600.

What do you guys think? I really am tempted to pick one up. It's gonna be about $650 after taxes.....you can get an M11x for less than that. Hum.......
Click to expand...

Amazingly a Nook Color is only $249 and it only takes 10 minutes to root it...
 
Armoured said:
Wifi only $600.

What do you guys think? I really am tempted to pick one up. It's gonna be about $650 after taxes.....you can get an M11x for less than that. Hum.......
Click to expand...

One is a tiny laptop and one is a tablet, two completely different things. When I use an iPad, it is because the tablet form factor and battery life has certain advantages over even a small laptop.

Ask yourself what you want to do. The issue with tablets is that many people still don't know exactly how they would fit them into their lives because it is such a new form factor and they aren't aware of the advantages (ie - battery life, having the full screen right in their hands) that is has over something like a laptop.

If you want to play PC games, by all means, get the m11x. Otherwise a tablet may be worth considering.
 
Armoured said:
Wifi only $600.

What do you guys think? I really am tempted to pick one up. It's gonna be about $650 after taxes.....you can get an M11x for less than that. Hum.......
Click to expand...
The Asus Transformer will be pretty much the same but have an IPS panel. Probably cost the same too.
 
I'm guessing here, just going on what is in the Asus EP121 but it might actually be an AFFS+ panel as even Asus was calling the EP121 panel IPS but it is actually AFFS+. Not a bad thing actually, the screen on the EP121 is awesome.
 
I was just comparing the price to an M11x because I own one.

It's like damn......when I take a step back......spending $650 on a tablet..........eh

I know they are two different things with two different functions; however that Nook color is REALLY looking good right now for $250 running honey comb.
 
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