The Motorola Xoom’s pricing was revealed just a day ago. At the same time, Motorola mobility head honcho Sanjay Jha also justified the price tag for the Motorola Xoom, and his reasoning should result in a cheaper Wi-fi and 3G version of the Motorola Xoom for the UK. Read on for our reasons why.
The Motorola Xoom with Wi-fi and 3G will have a price tag of $800, that’s around £500. The Wi-fi only version will set you back $600 (£370). That’s expensive for the US, but not quite as painful for us Brits, being as we pay a tad more for an iPad anyway (a 32GB iPad with Wi-fi and 3G is $729 (£450) in the US, whereas here it is £612).
So, why is the 3G and Wi-fi Xoom so expensive? Jha said the reason was that there would be a free 4G upgrade for the Xoom. He said: “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].”
But what isn’t discussed is whether the price point will be adjusted for those with no 4G network, and little sign of one any time soon, like us here in the UK. Surely it’s not fair to ask us to pay the same as the US (or more, as is usually the acse with gadget pricing), when the reason the price tag is so high is because of an upgrade Motorola will never get the chance to roll out in the UK?
If Jha is being quoted correctly, we want a cheaper Xoom for the UK. We don’t want to pay for a service we’ll never get, and on a free upgrade that will never arrive. It’s not the fault of Motorola, but we’d hope that Jha’s statement implies that places without 4G will have a cheaper version of the Motorola Xoom. Nobody wants to pay for a service it’s impossible to use.
What do you think? Would you feel ripped off if the Motorola Xoom was not cheaper in the UK? Click and tell, and shout out in the comments!
The Motorola Xoom’s pricing was revealed just a day ago. At the same time, Motorola mobility head honcho Sanjay Jha also justified the price tag for the Motorola Xoom, and his reasoning should result in a cheaper Wi-fi and 3G version of the Motorola Xoom for the UK. Read on for our reasons why.
