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Motorola XOOM priced at $800

engadget.com

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Re: Motorola XOOM priced at $800

#61

Post by schwabacher »

Andys wrote: post #36
natnat wrote: post #13

I really don't understand this at all. According to iSuppli[1], Apple pays $229.35 in parts and labor to make the low-end iPad. They develop their own operating system, buy incredible amounts of ads, and yet they still have massive profit margins selling iPads for $500. Meanwhile, Motorola and Samsung and other manufacturers get a free operating system and get cellphone carriers to give them a bunch of money to sell…

Manufacturing cost is ALL about the volume. You can make a device cost half as much if you buy 10x the volume, and half as much again for 100x

But the most expensive parts (processor, lcd, batteries, ram, flash memory) are for the most part commodity items. I would imagine Apple has some negotiating power buying huge volumes, but getting them 50-75% cheaper than Samsung?

Re: Motorola XOOM priced at $800

#62

Post by mitchellhislop »

uytrhyujkujhy wrote: post #28
protomyth wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am pretty sur iSuppli's numbers are not accurate. Apple has the money to buy in quantity that Mortorola cannot match. I also think that Apple's COO has overseen the building of a world-class supply chain. Plus having a successful retail chain that can feature your product is a huge advantage. The iPod experience shoul show that price is not going to be an easy thing to beat Apple in for consumer electronics.

So apple can buy the CPU for it's iPad from Samsung for less than Samsung can????

I know that this wasn't your exact point, but apple does their own CPU's, IIRC. The A4 chips are the ARM arch. and are done in-house.

Re: Motorola XOOM priced at $800

#63

Post by mitchellhislop »

zdw wrote: post #42
zdw wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the low end $20/month plan, assuming a two year contract, that's $1280 total. Yikes. The pricing psychology of the iPad starting at $500, then relatively small incremental updates that increase the size and give it 3G makes for a much easier sell. The Xoom does look like nice hardware - I just wonder if they'll sell enough of them to reach economies of scale and drive the price down.

After further reading, it appears that you only need to buy one month of Verizon service (no 2-year contract), so the total is $819. (Would have fixed the parent post but can't edit for some reason...)

From the way it was described to me at CES, it would be sold as an "on-contract device". That may have changed, but FWIW

Re: Motorola XOOM priced at $800

#64

Post by mitchellhislop »

jad wrote: post #40
cleverjake wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, it has 32 gigs of internal storage, so comparing it against the ipad with half the storage isn't quite apples to apples (no pun intended.) It would be more fair to compare it with the $730 32gb w/ 3g ipad. When you could that with a higher resolution screen, dual cameras, /and/ a built in barometer, Id say its a near even deal ( http://goo.gl/OYVrd for a full comparison chart). That being said - its still…

"When you could that with a higher resolution screen, dual cameras, /and/ a built in barometer, Id say its a near even deal" Remember though that the Xoom will spend most of its life competing against the second generation iPad, so most of these feature advantages are likely to vanish. Throw onto that the fact that judging from Apple's pricing history the next iPad will either have the same or a lower price, _and_ th…

Although it may still win on the barometer.

I bet someone at Apple is trying to figure out 1) How to include one 2) How to leverage one

[yes, in that order]

Re: Motorola XOOM priced at $800

#65

Post by schwabacher »

netcan wrote: post #21
thatoneguy wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AFAIK, Apple's supply chain is not only legendary, but they'll commit huge amounts of capital to new hardware products in advance. This allows them to more or less own the output of a given supplier's factory, forcing other companies to pay spot prices for their follow-on products.

I'm sure stuff like that play a part. But, iphones have been out for a while. Long enough for new factories to be set up, old factories to increase capacity, contracts to run out... Should be long enough for things to catch up. Why are iphone's best competitors still about the same price or more?

I don't think they are, I got a G2 phone for free on contract from t-mobile a few weeks ago, and the Droid X is $20 on Amazon.

I would imagine the production costs are similar, or lower, for Apple though and that they are just operatig with a much higher margin.

Re: Motorola XOOM priced at $800

#66

Post by mitchellhislop »

r00fus wrote: post #29
necubi wrote: post #2

This seems pretty crazy, as the comparable iPad (16GB WiFi+3G) retails for $630. It will also be difficult to build up a large install base without a cheaper, wifi-only model. And while at the moment the Xoom has some features the iPad does not (cameras, for example) the inevitable release of a new iPad in a couple months will no doubt erase that advantage, at the same (or lower, per GB) price. I can't imagine what M…

What about I don't want to pay for 3G, and don't want it? Xoom is not an option... I already pay for a mobile data account (with tethering)... why pay for another account? Furthermore, iPad 3G requires no contract. No, there is no real iPad competitor yet.

This.

The main reason that the XOOM, at least at launch, will not snag the top spot is that people will look at it, and then see the more known, cheaper, and contract-less iPad.

Keep in mind, many people dont need 1gHz and 32 GB. I nearly got the 16gb myself, and only went with the 32 because I see myself flying more this year.

Re: Motorola XOOM priced at $800

#67

Post by philwelch »

mitchellhislop wrote: post #62
uytrhyujkujhy wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So apple can buy the CPU for it's iPad from Samsung for less than Samsung can????

I know that this wasn't your exact point, but apple does their own CPU's, IIRC. The A4 chips are the ARM arch. and are done in-house.

They're designed in-house, but Samsung manufactures them.

Re: Motorola XOOM priced at $800

#68

Post by jrockway »

schwabacher wrote: post #61
Andys wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Manufacturing cost is ALL about the volume. You can make a device cost half as much if you buy 10x the volume, and half as much again for 100x

But the most expensive parts (processor, lcd, batteries, ram, flash memory) are for the most part commodity items. I would imagine Apple has some negotiating power buying huge volumes, but getting them 50-75% cheaper than Samsung?

And remember, Samsung makes the flash memory for Apple! Surely they give themselves the same price (or better) that they give Apple.

(They also make LCDs, so they probably get a good price on those too.)

Re: Motorola XOOM priced at $800

#69

Post by jrockway »

michaelbuckbee wrote: post #25
jsz0 wrote: post #14

This is the practical downside of being too cozy with carriers. A cheaper wifi-only model would be great for consumers but cuts the carriers out of the loop entirely. Probably the same reason there's no 'iPod Touch killer' out there yet. All these companies are in the business of selling equipment to carriers. What the consumer wants is a secondary consideration at best.

This is a huge frustration to me as a developer, I wish I could buy an iPod touch style android device.

Archos has an entire line, from 2" screens to 10" screens.

Re: Motorola XOOM priced at $800

#70

Post by georgemcbay »

rje wrote: post #54
EwanG wrote: post #27

I suppose now would be a bad time to mention Viewsonic's G-Tablet which has a Tegra 2 chip (just like the XOOM), a 10" display (not quite as nice as the XOOM's), and 16 gigs of RAM for a bit under $400? :-)

Have they announced honeycomb support for it yet? I haven't seen any news on it.

No, and they probably never will...officially The official software story on the G-Tablet is a total disaster that Viewsonic will likely never fix.

However the hardware is great and 3rd party developers are supporting the device with proper software. You can currently run CyanogenMod7 (which is based on Gingerbread/2.3) on the G-Tablet, though it is fully a community project that Viewsonic has nothing to do with. I'm sure the same will be true of Honeycomb soon after it hits full ASOP status.

If you're willing to hack around with the device and not rely on the official software, the G-Tablet is great at <$400. My only complaint is the viewing angles on the LCD aren't that great (the panel is not IPS), if not for that it would be a pretty ideal Android tablet platform for people willing to install community roms.

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