Motorola Xoom $699 at Best Buy?

So make a $400, 16gb wifi only one and I'll buy it.

The 16GB WiFi only iPad is $499.

I hate when people try to make non sense Justifications for the prices of android tablets. The iPad has OPTIONS. Apple has different models of the iPad so that you can CHOOSE. That is why there is a $529 iPad. Android manufacturers are not giving the option of different models with more or less GBs wifi or 3G.... I'm a big android fan. But this ISA MAJOR ISSUE.

The 16GB WiFi only iPad is $499.

I would pay $699 unsubsidized for the Xoom. $799 seemed just a tad on the high side. For a 32gb model I was reasoning around $700. MWC should clarify the whole tablet landscape, besides, we also have the events from Sprint, HP/Palm & Dell 2nd week of Feb, prior to MWC from the 14th through the 17th.

$400, Wi-Fi only, or no interest at all.

Screw that the technology doesn't warrant $699.00. A smartphone and my macbook air is all I need. Motorola makes me more sick than apple does. The only good thing about the ipad is netflix, and itunes. Android has non of those things.

Kinda sorta. Netflix will come to 2.3 devices in short order. Android doesn't have itunes, but has Amazon mp3 which some view as superior (especially in price).

It better drive my car for me

Lower, lower, lower!

Why are folks on here complaining about the price? Even at $800 it's a better deal than any off-contract Android phone. You all should be complaining about why a Droid X costs almost $600 off-contract. And whomever runs the "spam" filter on this site should be fired.

That's too much money for something that is an in between device. I wouldn't pay hat much for a smartphone or a laptop and I value those more than a tablet.

the spam filter is unreal. EVERY TIME i try to comment i get flagged. EVERY TIME edit: including this time too, obviously

Phone prices are artificially high BECAUSE of the carriers. You can't compare the prices of phone or carrier (3G/4G) equipment to WiFi-only equipment. Case in point- 32GB iTouch 4 $275
32GB iPhone 4 $700 (Pricing from Best Buy, TODAY) The two devices, above, are nearly identical, only one of them is a "phone" and through a carrier. Which proves my point very clearly. Meanwhile: 10" Notion Ink tablet $400
10" iPad tablet $500 And Apple is notoriously overpriced. $400 is a completely reasonable expectation for a quality 10" Android Wifi tablet.

I don't quite see the uproar over the price; this is $30 cheaper than the 32GB 3G/WiFi iPad. What matters is the bottom price for the WiFi-only model; if Motorola can undercut Apple there, the rest is irrelevant. If Verizon throws in a nice subsidy for their 3G models, then they'll have an advantage at the top end of sales, but again, it's the bottom model that sells.

Because we don't want a 3G device! And Apple is way overpriced to start with. $400 should be the target.

They need to break the $500 price to make this successful. Leave out 3G, etc. from the low-end model. Mandatory 3G hardware makes little sense on an unsubsidized product.

A lot of the opposition would make sense if this were a 7" tablet. But this is a 10" tablet so to me running Honeycomb on a 10" tablet will be 100 times better than the iPad. But I agree the 7" Galaxy Tab is way over priced.

The difference is that a cellphone is pretty much a necessary item nowadays. To get all that technology into a tiny phone is amazing. Getting the same into a 10 inch screen should be cheaper.

I disagree. The economics of cell phones should drive the price way way down. After all you will sell a lot more smart phone then you will tablets. So it makes no sense why smart phones are $200 on contract and 3 times that much off contract. And a 10" LCD screen is more expensive than a 4" screen. This goes for everything else in a 10" tablet. I just don't see how making something smaller is more expensive in the cell phone market. In the PC market I can see this because of demand. Demand for LCD screen size for PC Monitors is in the 21" range and if you go over 24" then the price triples. All of this is demand driven. And if I bring my own smart phone to the party then why is service the same price? Shouldn't it be cheaper if Verizon is not subsidizing my phone? And if Verizon has to get close to $400 back from me on that phone in 2 years how do they do that? Maybe in Europe this could make sense because a GSM phone is a GSM phone. Where are you going to take your Captivate here in the US? T-Mobile so it can run slower? Maybe the carriers get the phones much cheaper if they buy in bulk and agree to other models etc. But I would put my money on price-fixing between the carriers and the manufacturers. If the manufacturers keep prices artificially high then you will constantly be forced to expensive multi-year contracts.

I'm sure the xoom is head and shoulders above the iPad but the iPad has clout and as long as the iPad is cheaper or equal in price, it will sell more. People are sheep.

Two things the spam filter is wacked on here and android 3.0? I thought it was getting 2.3...

If I'm not mistaken, the flagship tablets coming out this quarter are all Honeycomb. It'd be silly for them not to be.

What did you expect you guys can keep your ipad, doesn't do half what the xoom will. Go to Tipb instead.

I'm not enjoying the pricing on these android tablets.... I mean 700? I got a 13" mbp refurb for 900 last year.... tablets are great but I would rather have a slim laptop. The ipads 500 price point is looking better and better. I understand that android is more powerful and the 500 ipad comes with less space... but honestly... with cloud computing you don't really need all that much space.

You guys are ridiculous. It's not a big phone like the pad. Its a small PC. Even though I would love the price to be lower I wouldn't expect it. This is a great piece of hardware to go with cutting edge software. Well worth the price point I think.

so this is the off contract price correct? if so $500 on contract would sound about right if they wanted to sell these things. tho im not in the market for a tab yet. now someone at best buy or verizon needs to find the release date for the htc thunderbolt

of course it'll be higher than it should be at first since Motorola has an exclusive on the first Android 3.0 tablet. Once everyone else has access to honeycomb, there will be plenty of tablets and a lot of competition that'll keep prices low. especially when apple comes out w/a newer ipad. doesn't sound like i'll be the only one waiting til then

it's a tablet running essentially an operating system for a phone. nobody except the bloggers and the "I have to have the newest phone or I will die" idiots pay anywhere near "retail" price for a phone, so comparisons to those numbers are not meaningful. I'm much happier with my rooted nook color than I would be with an ipad for $500, let alone a xoom for the price of both put together. the only thing I'm missing is flash, which the ipad will probably never have and my nook should have soon. I would consider one for $300-$400 given the cameras, gps, etc, but only off contract. with a contract, $200-250 tops is concievable, but I doubt I'd do it.

To be honest Honeycomb is for tablets, not phones.

Android was designed for phones. Honeycomb is a version made to work better on tablets. It still can't do a lot of the things a laptop can do. That is the difference. Can it send a document to a networked printer? Can you attach a us hard drive or a dvd drive to it? Can it directly and easily access shared files on other computers on a network? Its just a bigger screen for better web surfing and games but it still doesn't do a lot more than a good smartphone

Notion Ink just keeps sounding better.....

No one cares what you ipid phangurls want, what you will pay or your opinions. We're android fans, we want the xoom, we understand the market, we know ipid is crap and we'll pay to be early adopters. Personally I was an early Droid adopter, an early Droid X adopter and I'll be an early Xoom adopter. Piss off.

Either you guys are too cheap or just can't afford bleeding edge technology. I really don't get the iPad price comparisons. The 32gb 3G iPad is $730. Let's not forget that the Xoom has more ram, a faster processor, a micro sd slot (soon after launch) and a 4g upgrade at some point. Let's also not forget Honeycomb which I am confident will blow away ios 4.2. Heck even Froyo on my Tab blows away ios 4.2. LOL I'll be rocking one on launch day.

I don't need "bleeding edge technology". I use what works for me and I'm not going to over pay for it just because some manufacturer, vendor, or service provided wants to get rich off consumer stupidity. I see no reason to pay a cell provider for another data plan when IF I had a Tablet, I could simply hot spot it or tether it to my EVO. That's just being a smart consumer who wants value for the dollar. If you need bleeding edge technology and just want to make vendors rich, go for it. have fun with that. I'll be over hear tethering my Tablet to my 4G EVO and spending less than you to enjoy similar functionality.

In my eyes, I think the price point of any of these tablets are just way too high. Considering you can get a laptop with pretty descent specs for about the same price as some of these tablets, I believe these prices are off the charts high. Let's face it, no tablet, be it the iPad or the Xoom, can do half of what a full blown laptop can do. To ask the consumer to pay such a huge price for something that isn't as useful or powerful is beyond me. It has nothing to do with being cheap or not being able to afford "bleeding edge technology" I think that is an asinine statement. It has everything to do with matching price with usefulness and power. If you honestly think any of these tablets are as powerful and capable as a laptop, then you're out of your mind.

$699 is much more reasonable for the device. It's a decent price drop (Roughly 16%) from what we expected from the VZW posting. I really want to get an Xoom, but it'll have to totally exceed expectations if they want it to do well even at the $699 price point.

I understand the economics, I don't think $700 (off contract) is an unreasonable price... But I'm still in the same camp as others, until they offer me a Wifi-only version for $450 or less I'm not biting. It's still a luxury item and a first-gen one at that... For the same kind of money I could replace my netbook with an AMD Brazos-based ultra portable that's far more capable, gets 6-8 hours of battery life, and it's not much bigger to lug than a 10" tablet. Tablets are gonna explode once prices drop tho, for sure, probably around the time the second gen models start arriving... After the OS has matured and clear front-runners have emerged, even amongst Android fans a lot of people are waiting to see how HP/Palm and Blackberry do. Heck, even Microsoft still has a chance

Oh and it's not a matter of being cheap or not being able to afford it... I'm about to spend $800 on IPS LCD displays and another $450-$550 on video cards to game at 5760x1200; but I'm definitely getting my money's worth there. The super wide field of view will enhance my gaming experience and the displays will increase my productivity in general. A tablet isn't gonna improve my workflow or enhance my entertainment like that, it's just gonna supplement my smartphone & netbook. I imagine that people who don't already own a laptop (or those who just have a big desktop replacement laptop) could feel entirely different... I'm not sure how large that market is tho.

I'll stick with my Droidx, rooted NC and Viewsonic Grab. All 3 for roughly the same price as the Xoom

Makes the Color Nook look even better at $248. I am rocking 2.2 on it and it is very fast and smooth evening running from the SD card.

Seems like a lot of people are going to shell out the money for this useless piece of tech. Motorola knows that, and thats why it cost so much. Thats why car dealerships always try to rip me off. Because idiots come before me and pay what they want for the car.

ARE ANY MANUFACTURER EXEC'S PAYING ATTENTION TO THE COMMENTS TO THIS ARTICLE? All of these people who follow and buy YOUR products are saying NO to $700. $700 WILL GET US A HIGH POWERED LAPTOP. Can you run Photoshop? Can you edit Video? Can you play DX9 level game graphics? WHY DO YOU THINK WE ARE GOING TO BITE ON THIS. The Galaxy Tab sales numbers should have taught you better. Originally priced at $750.99, the Tab is now $599.99 because NOONE is willing to drop down that kind of money. What a greedy waste of technological and consumer buying progress... Not when we can get an iPad, NEW for $425.00 online.

If they drop $100 more unsubsidized they might have me. Right now though I'm looking at the Adam.

I just don't know how they come up with these prices. I own 2 PC's, a netbook, ipod touch(which I don't even use anymore since I got my Droid X in December), and a Droid X. I don't see where a tablet would fit in. I mean if you want something small and compact you can get a good netbook for about $400.00 and if you want something that runs android you can get one of these new phones that are coming out like thunderbolt or bionic. I mean really are these tablets going to do something that you can't do on your higher end android phone or a netbook. I think these tablets are over hyped from the get go. It feels like when CD burners came out they were like $1000 and up. Now you can buy one for like $100 or less. To me no matter the OS that is on a tablet it should not be anything higher then $300. If I was willing to pay $800.00 for a tablet pc I rather just buy a real good notebook or PC. I guess the prices will go down in like 3 or 4 years and then maybe I'll buy one. I admit it's something cool but what is it going to replace for the average user. I'd say most of the people that read this site own many different devices so ask yourself what will a table PC replace and would it be worth it at $800 or even $500. Someone give me a decent android tablet for $300 or less then it will be worth it. Just a thought. If I could put android honeycomb 3.0 on my HP netbook I would be happy.

Kahon! Do you think these people from Samsung or Motorola have thought about if they sell a sub $500 tablet then more people will buy and means more sales thus more profit. Than selling it freakishly expensive and of course loss of sale from cheap-ass people like me.

Whoa waaaay too much.

Not too much for me. Seems to be a fair price. Now I just got to see some reviews. see if it's worth it.

Tablets are just a giant smartphone without a calling feature.

Man... this is really the best tablet to come out yet, and blows the socks off iPad, but that is just WAY too much money!! Don't they realize we are still in a bad economy and people don't have this kind of money to blow that easily like we did before the economy went down the tube?! Heck, even a netbook for $300 is still a smarter buy over the Xoom. Sorry, but as much as I want a Xoom, I will not buy one until they come down below $500, heck closer to $400 and I'll consider.

Tablets should cost about as much as a netbook pc...400ish

I'm a big Android fan, but I'm not paying $700 or more for a 3G tablet and another data package monthly bill when I have an EVO. IF I were interested in Tablets, a WiFi only Tablet would be more than enough for me because I would then tether my EVO or hot spot. Not paying an extra data charge I don't need. Not in this to make my carrier rich. Besides, my carrier "SPRINT" doesn't offer the Xoom anyway, and if the iPad 2 comes in at a lower price with features that are comparable or even close, you can forget it.

These companies are making a killing with this crap unnecessary hardware.
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No kidding. It's even funnier when they can get some overpaid idiot to pony up for a mandatory data plan on a smart phone AND a data plan on a tablet.

As someone mentioned above, as much as I'd love a tablet, I really have no use for one. I already have a desktop computer, a netbook, and a droidx. Since I got the X, with its 4.3" screen, I stopped using my netbook for casual web browsing on the go or sitting on the couch. I could see having a tablet if I didn't have a netbook or giant phone... but another "in between" device for that much money? Can't rationalize it... even though I wish I could.

Seriously. I paid less than $699 for my used Panasonic Toughbook, and while it isn't "Bleeding Edge Technology", I can drop it on the floor anytime and it will still work with no problems. Can your "bleeding edge over priced Tablet" do that? I don't think so. There is this thing called "Value for the Dollar". It flies in the face of overpaying for a tablet. I'm not going to pay $699 for a Tablet when I can get a full fledge laptop for that amount that can do more WORK and more PLAY than ANY tablet made by ANYONE (including Apple). Heck, I can get a used Macbook Pro for $699 from Macofalltrades.com and still be able to do more with it than some Tablet. Who really NEEDS a Tablet? I don't. If you do, at least be smart about what you're buying and don't overpay just because you want "bleeding edge technology" and don't want to be thought of as "cheap".

$699 = me sticking with my rooted nook color

Exactly. I have yet to see Apple release actual detailed numbers on the ratio of WiFi iPads to 3G iPads, but I'd wager that they have sold more WiFi iPads due to the ability to get one without having to be tied to any particular carrier. I know that iPads are sold at Walmart all day long and I've seen people buying them there. It's a huge mistake on the part of any Android Tablet maker to rely solely on 3g or 4g tablet sales and NOT have a WiFi tablet to compete with the WiFi iPad. All Apple has to do is offer a good user experience with comparable technology (or hobbled technology) at a lower cost for a WiFi iPad2 and they will undercut the sale of Android Tabs that are 3G only.

$699. For 3g 4g model not bad. 599 let's hope for the 32-64 gig WiFi only version.

Better hope the WiFi iPad2 model doesn't come in around $499 and have similar dual core processor, memory, SD expansion, and USB. What would be worse for the Android Tablets (including Xoom) is if the iPad 2 had a USB port that worked with USB 3G and 4G dongles, with software. That means purchase of a WiFi iPad2 could lead to a USB Dongle upgrade later. Speculation of course, but I'm just saying, pricing any Tab above the price of an iPad2 is going to be an epic fail on Verizon and AT&T.

Add me to the "this is too much money and I want wifi only" category. I might be swayed as much as $500 if it's wifi only and the reviews are stellar. Otherwise I'll either stick with the Nook or get something cheaper like an Archos. Yes I know they are in different leagues but how many of you bought something like a Civic instead of something like a 'Vette once you realized that the much less expensive device will still transport you to work just fine (function over form). Maybe not the best analogy but you get the idea.

Price Mota Zoom $100 - $200 under Apple's iPad or forgetaboutit!