Motorola Xoom: Wi-Fi Version March 25th, $599

Only just announced in the USA, the Motorola 10.1 inch 3G tablet is now to be accompanied by a wi-fi only version.

The Motorola Xoom, first official release for Android 3.0, is already to be marketed in a wi-fi only version. The announcement isn't surprising given the disappointing sales of the 3G version and the commercial success of the iPad 2.

Motorola has therefore reacted very quickly to raise the bar with a version without 3G. It will be on sale at $599 and will be available as of March 27th. This positioning puts it on an equal footing with the iPad 2 32 GB wi-fi and makes the Xoom much more attractive to consumers, notwithstanding Android / iOS preferences.

In effect, this wi-fi version is based on Android 3.0 Honeycomb, has a capacitive 10.1 inch touch screen, a Tegra 2 dual core Nvidia processor, an HDMI out, Flash 10.1 compatibility for the internet (and even 10.2 in the days to come) and a 5 megapixel video/camera sensor (1 megapixel for the iPad 2). Above all, the Xoom has the advantage of being a good product that isn't produced by Apple with much better availability in stores.

Many potential iPad 2 buyers will look towards the Xoom because the new Apple tablet is out of stock and will continue to be for some weeks. It remains to be seen if the Motorola Xoom will have the pulling power to make the most of this favourable combination of technical and commercial factors.

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