At Mobile World Congress on Wednesday, Motorola Mobility chief executive Sanjay Jha came to the defense of the company’s decision to price its first Android tablet at $800. The Motorola XOOM will be a flagship Android tablet when it launches in the near future, and Motorola has slapped on a flagship price tag. With 3G connectivity, the 32GB XOOM will be $70 more expensive than an Apple iPad with the same amount of storage. “We felt that our ability to deliver 50Mbps would justify the $799 price point,” Jha told reporters at Mobile World Congress. “It is 32GB with 3G and a free upgrade to 4G. Being competitive with iPad is important. We feel that from the hardware and capabilities we deliver, we are at least competitive and in a number of ways better.” Of note, the 3G XOOM will reportedly also require users to purchase at least one month of cellular data service in order to unlock Wi-Fi connectivity — ostensibly adding another $30 onto the price of the XOOM and making it a full $100 more expensive than the comparable iPad model. The Wi-Fi-only XOOM will be priced in line with the comparable iPad model at $600.
Motorola CEO defends XOOM tablet’s $800 price tag
Updated Dec 19th, 2018 7:03PM EST
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Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.
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