Xoom--Not selling very well

[cr3amy]

I saw the 300k figure from the investment firm of Morgan Keegan & Company as well.
300k for a quarter is beyond #failing.
it is downright embarrassing.
microsoft kin sold 800k before it was deemed a failure, and we all know how that worked out for microsoft.

Tons of R&D, delays, and misaligned expectations made that a failure, not just a lack of sales. 800k is nothing to laugh at... unless you're expecting millions.

 

[bworley50]

I disagree FFR. Let's assume their NET profit is $80 per unit. That's 10% of retail price as profit. 300k x $80 per is $24 million NET PROFIT in 1 quarter from one device that MMI manufactures. How is that failure?

 

[FFR]

Tons of R&D, delays, and misaligned expectations made that a failure, not just a lack of sales

Yeah you are right what you expressed above has nothing to do with the xoom.
As for lack of sales, Couldn't agree with you more, Motorola released the xoom with no delusions of profit, who needs revenues and profits.

Tons of R&D, delays, and misaligned expectations made that a failure, not just a lack of sales. 800k is nothing to laugh at... unless you're expecting millions.

With all the funds that went into creating the xoom ("Tons of R&D") why would they expect to sell more than a couple hundred thousand units.

 

[anon(11078)]

The problem is that all of the R&D that went into the Xoom has reached the market. For example, the wifi versions will cover the market pretty soon, expanding the number of units that R&D costs will be spread over. Not to mention the 7" tablet that moto is talking about putting into the market as well.

Finally, and this is important, the big sellers for the iPad were not the 3G version but the 16GB wifi version. There is still quite a bit of upside to the Xoom.

 

[dmcman73]

I don't get it...why is everyone still comparing the Xoom to ALL of the iPad models?? Compare sales of the Xoom to the sales of the iPad with 3G and 64GB and that's your true number....not against EVERY model of the iPad. Yes, Motorola would have done better if they came out with a WiFi model along with the 3G but they didn't probably because of a contract deal with Verizon. Who knows, Verizon may have well helped with the R&D funding to get the first HoneyComb tablet from Motorola and that's why the 3G only was released without the WiFi.

So please stop comparing the Xoom to every model of the iPad because whether you believe it or not, every different "flavor" of the iPad is a DIFFERENT model all together and they compete against each other in a sense.

 

[terrain]

Motorola Xoom Tablet Sales 'Underwhelming'



?Xoom sales have been underwhelming. While marketing has just started we believe MMI will likely have to cut production if it already has not done so. We believe the device has been a bit buggy and did not meet the magic price point of $500. We believe management knows this and is hurrying development and production of lower cost tablets. Importantly we believe management will likely have to make the painful decision to accept little to no margin initially in order to match iPad 2?s wholesale pricing.?


If the report is true no surprises here. Horrible marketing, horrible P.R., high price, partnership with Verizon, No flash at launch, no 4G (upgrade process a terrible joke
), non functioning sd card slot, no wifi version, the suprise would have been if it were selling well.

Let's hope that other manufacturers get their Android Honeycomb tablets to the market quick. Android's strength is in it's numbers, multiple manufacturers working consistently to improve the platform.

And who would you have liked them to partner with... Sprint? They picked the best they could by choosing Verizon.

No failure as far as I can see.

 

[cr3amy]

Yeah you are right what you expressed above has nothing to do with the xoom.
As for lack of sales, Couldn't agree with you more, Motorola released the xoom with no delusions of profit, who needs revenues and profits.

With all the funds that went into creating the xoom ("Tons of R&D") why would they expect to sell more than a couple hundred thousand units.

If you want to argue about price, profits, and units sold, go to my thread about pricing. Also, I can't tell if you're being sarcastic throughout your whole post or just part of it, but I'm just going to assume you're a snarky little a-hole... how in the hell do you know how much R&D went into the Xoom? How do you know what their break-even point is? How do you know what kind of a sales target they need to hit to reach profitability? You're talking about these broad ideas as if you actually know what you're talking about. At least I had the balls to make some specific assumptions in my other thread.

 

[FFR]

If you want to argue about price, profits, and units sold, go to my thread about pricing. Also, I can't tell if you're being sarcastic throughout your whole post or just part of it, but I'm just going to assume you're a snarky little a-hole... how in the hell do you know how much R&D went into the Xoom? How do you know what their break-even point is? How do you know what kind of a sales target they need to hit to reach profitability? You're talking about these broad ideas as if you actually know what you're talking about. At least I had the balls to make some specific assumptions in my other thread.

your completely right I'm sure when Motorola was brainstorming the xoom, they calculated their break even point at300k units per quarter.

 

[xzigraz]

I believe they set the price at 800 is to try to get as much as possible out of this beta product and also cover their cost of having to update the thing to 4G capable. The real selling product is the wifi version which they probably want to make perfect before it is out of the door. Also the additional revenue from the price reduced 3g/4g xoom in the coming months and ultimately the new xoom 2 next year. so hang in there just a little bit guys, we'll get our sweet wifi xoom eventually.

 

[rmiddle]

I am sorry were are we getting small numbers from?

When I bought my first Xoom it was the last unit in any Best Buy within 35 miles of my location the next day I went to the Verizon store and according to the sales person they were pretty much out of unit and most of the accesory. acording to the person I talk to they sold more unit at that store then they did iphones just a few weeks eailer.

If the sales number were small it is because Motorola underestmated the number of units they were going to sale.

Thanks
Robert

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

 

[xzigraz]

I am sorry were are we getting small numbers from?

When I bought my first Xoom it was the last unit in any Best Buy within 35 miles of my location the next day I went to the Verizon store and according to the sales person they were pretty much out of unit and most of the accesory. acording to the person I talk to they sold more unit at that store then they did iphones just a few weeks eailer.

If the sales number were small it is because Motorola underestmated the number of units they were going to sale.

Thanks
Robert

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

This is not the case in my area and I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. Basically the Best Buy I went to isn't pushing this new product at all. There were no card board posts, XOOM was sitting with other netbooks in the middle of the row almost covered up. If I wasn't looking for it, then I probably won't even find it. There are a ton of it in the shelf below the demo.

 

[azari]

I think it's obvious--incredibly obvious, in fact--that this has been a soft launch aimed at getting the first Honeycomb tablet out the door. I don't believe for a second that Motorola expected iPad-level sales from the Xoom at this point.

Personally, I'm very glad they didn't wait to release it. I'm loving my Xoom as it is, and getting Flash next week (and thus PlayOn) means I'll be able to do everything an iPad 2 can do, and much more.

Oh, and golly: an analyst claiming that the Xoom isn't "selling well" (as compared to the iPad, of course, which is an impossible standard). What a shocker.

I have been enjoying the Xoom for about a week now as well. Yes, the SD slot doesn't work, yes, it doesn't have flash, and yes, it's pricey. BUT, it's wicked fast and it has replaced my laptop for 95% of the stuff I'm doing - only time I go back to the PC is when I must work in Photoshop [PocketCloud helps too ]. Oh, and iPad doesn't have flash either - I'll have it in a week or so, they won't any time soon.

And yes, I think Motorola could have done a better job and maybe wait until they actually had a final product to sell. I am not looking forward to having to send the thing for the 4G upgrade. Overall, though, I am happy with the device already - and it'll only get better.

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

And who would you have liked them to partner with... Sprint? They picked the best they could by choosing Verizon.

No failure as far as I can see.

Or not partner at all. The partnership with Verizon directly caused the Xoom's dismal sales, because the hundreds of millions of people around the world who could care less about Verizon are forced to buy into a "4G" network that covers a tiny percentage of the population.

Or they can all buy an iPad 2, and they are. How many would have bought a Xoom for 500 bucks instead -- a good many I'll wager.

Carriers do not care if Motorola succeeds or fails. They do not care if Android succeeds or fails. They only care if they profit from them.

I predict the same pitiful sales from the G-Slate and Samsung's new tablets as long as they insist on kow-towing to carriers instead of their real customer base.

 

[accordngs]

LOL!

That has to be the most unofficial sales numbers article I have ever seen. Clearly, the "analyst" has no raw data to support his claims.

The fact of the matter is we don't know how many of these things are selling. I don't expect it to be near the iPad, but I doubt they are anywhere near the level where Motorola deems the product a failure and cuts production after 2 weeks!

 

[markle.michael]

I personally think the current incarnation of the Xoom tablet will be the failure of Motorola (Mobile).

They claim to have spent so much money in R&D to come up with this Honeycomb tablet only to release it with no flash (Key selling point of 2.2 and above), No Wifi (Really, this day in age???), No LTE at launch (Again a key selling point), No expandable memory (It's there, but you can't use it), Attaching it to a carrier like BigRed, Price point (Yes, $800.00 for a 16GB wifi/3G version of a tablet that's broken and running an unproven operating system, from the get go is ridiculous).

Yes the Xoom will fail, will it completely kill Motorola, only time will tell. I can say this however, if these manufacturers don't start working alongside google to release O/S updates at the same intervals across all handsets equally and google doesn't completely overhaul their market (And yes by overall I mean take away some of the openness, yep, I said it). We're going to be looking at something a bit larger than a handset manufacturer going under.

Android may be on top right now and honestly I absolutely love that! However, one mistake, and look how many people it will effect.

 

[coreymcl]

I personally think the current incarnation of the Xoom tablet will be the failure of Motorola (Mobile).

They claim to have spent so much money in R&D to come up with this Honeycomb tablet only to release it with no flash (Key selling point of 2.2 and above), No Wifi (Really, this day in age???), No LTE at launch (Again a key selling point), No expandable memory (It's there, but you can't use it), Attaching it to a carrier like BigRed, Price point (Yes, $800.00 for a 16GB wifi/3G version of a tablet that's broken and running an unproven operating system, from the get go is ridiculous).

Yes the Xoom will fail, will it completely kill Motorola, only time will tell. I can say this however, if these manufacturers don't start working alongside google to release O/S updates at the same intervals across all handsets equally and google doesn't completely overhaul their market (And yes by overall I mean take away some of the openness, yep, I said it). We're going to be looking at something a bit larger than a handset manufacturer going under.

Android may be on top right now and honestly I absolutely love that! However, one mistake, and look how many people it will effect.

Maybe I missed something like where your getting your information but the Xoom does have WIFI. And you other point about a 16GB model again, I'm lost as to what you are saying as the Xoom has 32GB of built-in storage.

Care to clarify what your saying again?

 

[patfactorx]

Or not partner at all. The partnership with Verizon directly caused the Xoom's dismal sales, because the hundreds of millions of people around the world who could care less about Verizon are forced to buy into a "4G" network that covers a tiny percentage of the population.

Or they can all buy an iPad 2, and they are. How many would have bought a Xoom for 500 bucks instead -- a good many I'll wager.

Carriers do not care if Motorola succeeds or fails. They do not care if Android succeeds or fails. They only care if they profit from them.

I predict the same pitiful sales from the G-Slate and Samsung's new tablets as long as they insist on kow-towing to carriers instead of their real customer base.

The 3G Xoom isn't a mainstream consumer product. It was picked because Verizon anointed it to be the first 4G tablet and its a marketing ploy. Carriers play the long game. The Xoom 4G isn't a Motorola product it's a VZW marketing tool.

The WiFi Xoom is Motorola's actual tablet strategy.

Motorola IS NOT Apple. Stop saying they have to be like Apple. They do not have their own retail channel or a huge manufacturing base. They win through partnerships with carriers. They want to be a software/hardware hybrid company and are more like Microsoft than they are like Apple and last time I checked MSFT is KILLING AAPL in profitability (Though their stock sucks cuz Ballmer is failsauce).

 

[azari]

Amazing how much BS can be written in so little time...

 

[IceDree]

Motorola already said that the Xoom is selling well
Even if it had a slow start that doesn't make it a "Fail" , examples :

1- it took Apple almost 70 days to sell 1 million iPhone 1 & every one called it a "Fail" , now Apple sold 3 millions iPhone 4 in just 3 days & now Apple set the standards for mobile tech

2- Apple sold 2 million iPads in 60 days (doesn't manner what version) , which people called it a "Fail" & a "giant iPod Touch" , now iPad is the standard of Taplets

3- Motorola took 74 days to sell 1 million OG Droid , now the OG Droid is most popular Android phone (which gave Android the chance to fight IOS , no offense to the G?1)

4- Window Phone 7 had a bad start , but its getting popular now & Microsoft just announced that their market place just passed 10000 app MileStone

5- Nokia N8 was very popular at launch, but still couldn't save Nokia

So don't judge on something as a "Fail" from it early sales

Beside its not Motorola's fault that the OS is laggy or still missing Flash & SD support, that's Google's fault , since its a "pure google" & the updates will come straight from them

Although the 800 $ is too much for a taplet (which u can get a good laptop with it) , don't forget that the Galaxy Tap launched with 600$ price tag (for some how its half the price of the iPad) , but no one complained about the price or specs (which is not even close to Xoom) or the built quality !
I gotta admit the upgradable 3G\4G LTE is a nice touch (especially since its free)

 

[Mark_in_Tulsa]

What are the chances that Moto gets a kickback on monthly internet fee's from V?