- Oct 11, 2009
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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).
If the WiFi model is the "actual tablet strategy" then where is it? Why did Moto abandon it's real tablet strategy for a marketing ploy? I think Moto has no strategy, and depended on Verizon just as they did with the Droid.
You're right about one thing -- Motorola is not Apple. Apple puts products people want into their hands, at a price point they have convinced people is reasonable. According to you, Motorola drops their strategy (whatever it may be) at the will of a carrier. I'll say with certainty that more iPad 2's have been sold in the first 2 hours of sales than Moto will sell this month through Verizon.
The hardware is not as good. The interface is restrictive. The DRM on the content is downright draconian. Yet they sell a ton of them. There is a reason, and love them or hate them, the folks at Apple give people what they want. Motorola hasn't yet.