Motorola Xoom Android tablet goes on sale in US
US telecommunications giant Verizon will begin selling Motorola Mobility’s “Xoom” tablet computer on Thursday at a price close to that of a top-of-the-line iPad.
Xoom will be the first tablet on the market powered by the “Honeycomb” version of Google’s Android operating system which Google said was specifically built for such devices.
According to Verizon the Xoom will be sold for US$800. The price will be lowered to US$600 for those who opt for a two-year contract with Verizon.
Wireless 3G plans will begin at US$20 monthly for a gigabyte of data, Verizon said.
The 32GB iPad with both Wi-Fi and 3G capabilities retails for US$729 in the US with the 64GB version selling for US$829.
Xoom is said to include 32GB on-board storage with a microSD slot to expand that storage by up to another 32GB.
It also features a 10.1-inch screen and a front-facing 2-megapixel camera for video chats and a rear-facing 5-megapixel camera that captures video.
The Xoom tablet computer was crowned the best gadget at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last month.
“This is really the next generation of tablets,” Motorola Mobility device team head Alain Mutricy said as he held a Xoom in one hand at the awards ceremony. “Our partnership with Google has been very intense and has enabled some great technology.”
The CES accolades came just four days after Illinois-based Motorola split into two companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions.
Motorola Mobility will focus on mobility, the Internet and computing markets while Motorola Solutions will target next-generation communications solutions to government, public safety and enterprise customers.
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