If the Xoom did this poorly sales wise, what chance do following Honeycomb tabs have?

[Oxn]

outside of pricing, xoom did alot of things right, sorta.

Very powerful, first to the market with HC, tons of advertisements, even more so than the Galaxy before it.

So what chances are toshiba and Asus gonna have with their tabs coming soon? And what reason can they have to surpass the abysmally low 100k in 1 month bar?

 

[farwest]

Why do you care what tbe sales volume is? You've got the best tablet, so why does it matter? Is Mercedes worried that GM sells more vehicles?

Rest assured, Android will dominate the tablet market, just as they have done in cell phones - gone from nothing a few years ago to the leader - because an open and free OS will always prevail over closed and proprietary.

Competition is a good thing - prices will drop and features will increase

 

[clevin]

If price is not the most important aspect, I dont know what is.

Did motorola destroyed google's chance with other tabs? We will see, maybe not, asus and samsung are much smarter in putting out low price tabs. Several rounds of ads may be able to change the pricy image of honeycomb so far constructed by motorola.

 

[imwjl#AC]

Honeycomb has a great chance and I would think same for the Xoom.

If app development happens as fast and fine as it has for phones and more hardware choices come along it should do fine.

I get one choice with an Apple tablet. In a few months it looks like I'll have multiple choices with Honeycomb tablets, something thinner and light, probably more apps.

 

[Suntan]

Honestly, I think the main thing holding back potential xoom customers is the knowledge that about 5 or 6 other hc tablets are right around the corner.

And saying the xoom is the best of them is faulty logic. The reality is that there are a number of them that will all have the same basics (screen resolution, processor, memory, etc.) And differentiate themselves in more subtle ways (housings, docks, ports/mem cards, etc.) The "best" one is the one that fits your particular desires.

Personally, I'm going to be returning the xoom and wait a couple weeks to see all the ones that get released in that period. Maybe i'll end up getting the Xoom again after all is said and done, but honestly I doubt it.

-Suntan

 

[timmyboy188]

It really comes down to price. With the 3g + wifi being more than an iPad, it's going to have low sales. Apple has done a fantastic job at simplifying their products and making them visually appealing, to the point where they are dominating in the general market. Now, don't take that as "iPad is better than Xoom" because it's far from that. In fact, I don't even compare them anymore. There are two things that need to happen to make sales grow at an incredible pace for the Xoom right now:

Option 1: Make it cheaper, people like cheap things.

Option 2: Focus your advertising on comparing the Xoom and iPad exclusively. The general public needs pictures and vague headlines to convince them they need something over the other.

 

[slopokdave]

Why do you care what tbe sales volume is? You've got the best tablet, so why does it matter? Is Mercedes worried that GM sells more vehicles?

He, and every Xoom owner SHOULD CARE. Low sales, low development, low support, and less return on your investment.

This stuff matters.

 

[Live2ride883]

How is 100k sold in a month a low sales figure? Especially in an unproven market. You talked about samsung tabs having a lower price point etc, but they are inferior products and samsung is notorious for not updating their devices.

OP: be specific in what you mean by low development and low support.

Clevin I do agree that price is important but its not the most important part. When I buy hand tools I usually go with snap on or craftsman simply because of the quality, and if I break one its covered by a warranty. My brother will by the cheapest he can fint at walmart or big lots to save a few dollars. But he will buy 3-4 of these in the same time that I only paid for one. Yea I paid a little more initially but I have a quality product that will last a lot longer.

 

[timmyboy188]

My brother will by the cheapest he can fint at walmart or big lots to save a few dollars. But he will buy 3-4 of these in the same time that I only paid for one. Yea I paid a little more initially but I have a quality product that will last a lot longer.

Your brother's buying habits are consistent with the majority of consumers. That's why price is a big deal.

 

[milominderbinde]

outside of pricing, xoom did alot of things right, sorta...

A year ago, the iPad was the only tablet. Apple could have been so greedy as to charge $799 for the opening model and sold out but Apple charged only $499.

Apple could have raised the iPad 2 base price to $599 and they would have still sold out. But Apple would not be greedy. Apple stayed at $499 and the lines still seem insatiable.

Motorola did price at $799 and then $599.

The Xoom had every spec it needed but one. Price.

Now comes the Transform at $399 matching the $599 Xoom spec for spec. The Samsung Galaxy 10.1 has all of that but is thinner, lighter, and smaller than even the IPad 2 and only $499. See the specs:
Comparison Chart: Xoom, Transformer, Galaxy, TouchPad

Xoom owners needed Motorola to sell the millions of units it should have sold, not 100,000. Failed units get less attention for ROM's, apps, and accessories.

All of us needed the Xoom to be a success. Google bet everything on the Motorola Xoom, not allowing others tablets to have Honeycomb even now. We needed the Xoom to cut deeply into Apple so that it could reverse the iPad tide.

Instead of making a foothold against the iPad, the Xoom only solidified Apple's strong-hold.

The failure of the Xoom was a failure for Android. Google can never again bet everything on one company. Googles strength is in their diversity.

 

[Complex Pants]

Honeycomb isn't going anywhere. It looks like the Xoom going to go the way of the nexus one. A great product but really didn't take hold in the market. However, what made android succeed is the fact that after the nexus one was introduced there was a flood of 2.1 devices into the market and consumers moved away from the iPhone and blackberry. I suspect that the same thing will happen one HTC, Samsung, ASUS, Acer, Toshiba, Dell and even Packard Bell release their honeycomb tablets. With that many devices in the market one will stick and the developers will come.

 

[gizzyman]

the sky is falling the sky is falling....jeesh....
what happened did you all just read the first few lines in the article and not the entire thing?

moto said this sales figure was just for the US only, just for the 3g version only.. apple's sales were would wide and included their cheapest versions, the xoom is not over priced, the 3g model is on par with apple's top line ipad. When they add in the figures for those of you who are to cheap to get the top line model, you will see a bigger sales figure.

 

[Suntan]

or craftsman simply because of the quality, and if I break one its covered by a warranty.

Funny analogy. Once when I wanted a second 3/8 wratchet to make a spicific job easier, I bought the flavor that was available at home depot because it was easier than going to Sears.

Turns out that no-name wratchet works better than my craftsman. So I use it all the time now. And it has the same lifetime warranty as the more expensive craftsman.

I think the xoom fits with this. Good quality product, but not that much better than its competition to justify the higher cost. And possibly inferior to other options if a person has a desire for a specific feature (full size SD slot for example.)

-Suntan

 

[acegamer]

He, and every Xoom owner SHOULD CARE. Low sales, low development, low support, and less return on your investment.

This stuff matters.

True but the concern should be for honeycomb based tablets not xoom. As long as the other honeycomb tablets sell in volume then the support will be there. The xoom doesn't have to sell millions for us to get support. That is the same principle that lead to the sucess of android phones. No need for concern yet.

 

[lobobuzz]

Why do you care what tbe sales volume is? You've got the best tablet, so why does it matter? Is Mercedes worried that GM sells more vehicles?

Rest assured, Android will dominate the tablet market, just as they have done in cell phones - gone from nothing a few years ago to the leader - because an open and free OS will always prevail over closed and proprietary.

Competition is a good thing - prices will drop and features will increase

Amen! Totally agree with you.

 

[FFR]

True but the concern should be for honeycomb based tablets not xoom. As long as the other honeycomb tablets sell in volume then the support will be there. The xoom doesn't have to sell millions for us to get support. That is the same principle that lead to the sucess of android phones. No need for concern yet.

I disagree the tablet market and the smartphone market are two very different segments.

The smartphone market is heavily subsidized while the tablet market is not.
Consumers seem to put up with freezes, ui lags, and random reboots when the products cost between 299 and free, however when a product costs 500 to 900 dollars they are not so forgiving.

 

[Maikai.Guy]

... But Apple would not be greedy. ...

OMG!!!! Did you actually write that?! That was funny. That alone was worth visiting the site today.

 

[ottscay]

Are you people off your rockers??? The Xoom is selling 100k units a month, and that was mostly before the wifi version came out. Those are fantastic numbers for a first of its kind product (especially one with as many rough edges as Honeycomb still has). Did you think the Xoom was going to outsell the iPad in its first month?

Talk about setting impossible expectations and then getting upset when you don't meet them. Assuming Honeycomb gets a nice finishing patch in the next 3 months, then with the combined onslaught of $450 wifi tablets from multiple manufacturers it's entirely reasonable that month of month sales of Android tablets could catch the iPad in a year - possible by the holidays if word of mouth is really good and some killer apps (like Google Music) are announced at I/O.

It's not like any single Android phone beats the iPhone in sales volume now, and it will take a long time (if ever) until a single Android tablet outsells the iPad. The point is that there will be a dozen or more Android tablets from the low to the high end all competing for sales dollars, and as long as Google keeps executing and polishing they will catch up with and then dominate the tablet market in the next 10-24 months.

 

[slopokdave]

True but the concern should be for honeycomb based tablets not xoom. As long as the other honeycomb tablets sell in volume then the support will be there. The xoom doesn't have to sell millions for us to get support. That is the same principle that lead to the sucess of android phones. No need for concern yet.

Sure I'd agree to that. But it needs to be not just any honeycomb tablet but tegra2 hardware as well.

There are a couple coming out that will run on qualcomm processors, are they going to be able to run tegra games, and vice versa? Dunno...

 

[Bossxii]

Honeycomb will thrive just as Android for smartphones has. The Xoom will be replaced by upcoming tablets, just as every Android phone as been updated/outdated on the phone side of the market. The only competitive advantage any company has is the hardware and feature list, just like in the battle for the PC world where they all run Windows. Features will get better, prices will get cheaper.

The Xoom running the native Android is, as someone else mentioned, basically the G1, low sales, but a pure experience that will get updates when they come out. The choice to use or keep the Xoom vs another tablet is more or less comes down to your preference for having the latest and greatest hardware.. or version of Android. Then again, most other tablets can be rooted and updated with a little know how as well.

As to the sales figures of 100k a month so far, I'd be more concerned if that number is falling as the Wifi version is now on sale for $599 vs the $799 it started out at with the 3G model. If they maintain or gain over the 100k per month, it's all good and i"m sure we will soon see spec's for the Xoom 2. On the other hand if even with the Wifi at a lower price Moto gets blown out of the market by lower priced, better spec'd competition then your left on an island with few accessories for the device, but will still benefit from the growing Honeycomb user base.

For me that is the downside of the Android world, you can end up with a product that is forgotten about very quickly and no 3rd party vendors make cases or other items to go with your device. Hopefully Moto keeps the same form factor and simply updates things like the screen, memory, CPU etc..