Is Xoom an Epic Marketing Failure?

[Marine0816]

I can't think of a Marketing blunder since the Sega Dreamcast and the Atari Jaguar. Both machines were very good. Just bad marketing that led to their demise. Is the Xoom going to meet the same fate? If it does, here's a quick list on why.

1. Expensive super bowl commercial without showcasing the Xoom's talent. You had to be a tech nerd to understand the concept of that ad. Fail

2. Even though it won CES best of show. It only had a video demo on display so attendees could not play with Honeycomb. This was an early red flag that it was not ready for primetime. Fail

3. No initial firm price. Motorola could not give a price out early. My guess is because they knew the sticker price was a shocker. Fail

4. No confirmation on a wifi version. And there is still no word on this on the US side. Fail

5. No 4g, Flash, SD Card at launch. Fail

6. You have to send the item back for a week to get 4g. Is this some kind of an early April fools joke? Fail

7. 2 year contracts. People don't want to be tied on another cellular contract. Apple gets that point, Motorola and Verizon want to suck you dry. Letting Verizon exclusively control the device without a wifi version. Fail.

8. PRICE is just too damn high when you can get the ipad 2 for 500 and plethora of apps that come with it. Fail..



I really wanted this thing. But the Ipad is getting my money, and the price is so reasonable that I'm getting two. Sorry Motorola and Verizon, but no sucker here..

 

[scorpiodsu]

You can't think of one since Dreamcast? How about the Nexus 1. Very good device but online sales, not available anywhere for customers to touch before they buy, no commercials and 3G version locked to Tmobile on absurd contract terms.

 

[scorpiodsu]

The 2 biggest problems with the Xoom as far as marketing is the price (for a new entrant) and not showing enough of what the device does. The crappy VZW commercial does nothing for it whatsoever. And you can't be a new entrant to the market with a product, first of it's kind and priced a lot higher than the market leader. That's the failure. Whether it's better, is debatable and not important. You have to prove that it's better. And as a new entrant you usually have to take a loss OR lower gain so you can get recognition and established in the market first and then you can start pricing stuff where you want once you have gained those things.

 

[slinky317]

The Xoom is absolutely a marketing failure. Someone at Motorola should be fired for how they've handled it.

 

[hypocaffeinemia#AC]

It's been out for a week. It's a bit too early to tell whether or not to blame the marketing dept. Keep in mind, they're playing coy with prices and SKUs because Verizon who is essentially backing the device doesn't particularly want to be undersold before the product hits the shelves.

It's the main area where Apple outshines everyone else-- control of the marketplace.

 

[slinky317]

It's been out for a week. It's a bit too early to tell whether or not to blame the marketing dept.

Really? How many commercials have you seen that can actually show why it's better than the competition? Why have we not heard a peep about the WiFi only version in the US recently, even though the original iPad is now down to HALF THE COST of the Xoom?

It's a botched release, and Motorola's doing a horrible job of promoting it.

 

[anon(52425)]

It is a bit early but one can't deny that the marketing techniques are a failure. Both best buys in my area have the xoom hidden away for some reason. The ipad? In your face. Right there for you to see. Can't miss it.

And someone else said it...the commercials, its the ipad, center screen and in your face showing you what its capable of. And there are numerous commercials.

I would love to see something similar for the xoom. Show the rest out there what it can do.

 

[scorpiodsu]

Keep in mind, they're playing coy with prices and SKUs because Verizon who is essentially backing the device doesn't particularly want to be undersold before the product hits the shelves.

Ok so playing coy with the prices isn't a marketing problem? Are you serious? No seriously?

 

[cdejesus1119]

Not so much the Marketing...

I'm not too sure it was the marketing, I think its the lack of Apps. Most commercials show you the apps in the tablet and unfortunately xoom has a limited apps.

 

[scorpiodsu]

I'm not too sure it was the marketing, I think its the lack of Apps. Most commercials show you the apps in the tablet and unfortunately xoom has a limited apps.

What commercials are these for Android devices that show how the apps work on the device?

It starts with marketing. If you fail at that, people don't care about your apps because they don't know what they do. Will they advertise more apps once they are available? Probably but this same type of marketing, or lack thereof is consistent with mostly all Android products.

 

[flashpiti]

Yes the marketing for the Xoom is a failure. It basically amounts to some guy holding a Xoom going "Pew Pew, Xoom" You'd have just as much impact if you let two 4 year olds each run around with one using them as shields and swords since neither commercial actually shows what the damn thing does.

 

[flashpiti]

I'm not too sure it was the marketing, I think its the lack of Apps. Most commercials show you the apps in the tablet and unfortunately xoom has a limited apps.

Are you referring to the ipad commercials?

 

[Marine0816]

they only had one commercial that actually showed features

 

[ndwatkins]

I'm so sad that there hasn't been a decent ipad competitor in terms of sales. The average consumer looks at tablets and says, "here are two tablets. One is $499, one is $600." Of course they'll buy the cheaper one. That gigantic blunder on top of shoddy marketing, the same damn problem the palm pre had...I really do hate Apple, I make no apologies, but how hard is it to actually showcase what a device can do in an advertisement?
I really want companies to wake up and see these problems. I've said before...call up any of us nerds and we will cheerfully explain to you how to make, market, and successfully sell a tablet!

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[chemgeek]

Hmmmmmmmm...

The marketing was so bad, my local Best Buy sold out of their entire inventory the day of release. Maybe they didn't do it so badly after all. The Xoom is a pretty good piece of hardware, and if you want a tablet compatible with Flash, this is the first game in town. When the rest of the Android tablets crash the market later this year, prices will fall and many Honeycomb apps will be rapidly developed. And by next year Motorola will probably have everyone salivating over a quad-core Xoom.

Cheers.

 

[88 FLUX]

Even as a Xoom user, I agree that marketing has been close to if not completely horrible. But I wouldn't go as far as saying "failure" yet. It was sold out at most places by me when I was searching for mine.

 

[Holsum]

Even as a Xoom user, I agree that marketing has been close to if not completely horrible. But I wouldn't go as far as saying "failure" yet. It was sold out at most places by me when I was searching for mine.

im not sure why but i dont agree with any of this. the marketing could have been better, but a failure?

all the places i went the xoom was either sold out or completely preordered the first day.

 

[Marine0816]

all the places i went the xoom was either sold out or completely preordered the first day.

It's easy to sell out when a store only gets 10 units of something.

 

[Holsum]

It's easy to sell out when a store only gets 10 units of something.

they both had 15 units. at 800 a piece thats not bad. also, this was only 2 stores out of the hundreds of thousands selling them. i am sure they weren't the only ones.

 

[shingi_70]

I blame motorola and verixon equally. We can get commercials for LTE and verizon iphone but no good commercial. Even if they don't show apps a good commercial is everything.

Look at the I'm a mac commercials they don't show how the mac is better but it was a compelling commercial.

The superbowl add was a big inside joke, with the guy with the pad looking like he was more of a apple user.

I bet that tmobile are going to push the G-slate when it comes out.