Motorola has denied it's planning to kill the Xoom, as tablet manufacturers react to the launch of the Apple iPad 2. But, despite dismissing claims that the Android-powered tablet will no longer be produced by June, Motorola may be planning a new-look Xoom.
The electronics-industry wonks at DigiTimes initially claimed that Motorola would scale back production of the Xoom as soon as April, and stop it entirely in June. If that were true, it would probably be to make way for a new tablet, challenging the iPad 2.
The iPad leads the tablet market, and not just because Apple is perceived as a desirable brand. Apple's enjoyed a huge head start over the competition, with even the most feature-packed Android tablets still playing catch-up with the original iPad. The Xoom, for example, has barely hit shop shelves and already it's been trumped by the iPad 2. And, just yesterday, Samsung appeared to sideline the Galaxy Tab 10.1 before it's even come out, making way for a thinner, iPad 2-challenging tablet with the same name.
Motorola contacted Boy Genius Report to debunk the report, stating that it will continue to make the Xoom. But it's unclear whether that means the Xoom will continue in its current form, or there'll be a Xoom Mini, Xoom 2.0 or Xoom Whatever. If the continued success of the iPad is any indicator, consumers don't necessarily want featured-packed behemoths, so it makes sense for Motorola to split the Xoom brand into different shapes and sizes.
The Xoom was the first tablet to pack Android 3.0 Honeycomb, which now powers a range of other Android tablets, including the LG Optimus Pad and Galaxy Tab 10.1. Honeycomb is a new version of the Android operating system, designed specifically to take advantage of a tablet's large screen.
Should Motorola release multiple Xooms, as Samsung has with the Galaxy Tab, or should it stick with one flagship product, as Apple has? Let us know in the comments section below or on our Facebook wall.
Android App 
RSS Feeds 
iPhone App 
Newsletters 
Comments 8
Add your comment
Anonymous 23 March, 2011 14:06
What would be good is to see at last one of these alternative tablets. They keep trying to make ipad killers but never release them.
No wonder Apple holds the entire market: iPad is the only one or so for sale in stores!
Anonymous 23 March, 2011 14:08
What an utter piece of rubbish reporting...."it would probably be to make way for a new tablet, challenging the iPad 2. "
The Xoom already challenges and wipes the floor with the iPad Duh! Sorry should say iPad 2.
Anonymous 23 March, 2011 14:16
"consumers don't necessarily want featured-packed behemoths" - Guess the iPad Duh isn't feature rich then! You're making the iPad sound rather expensive for a feature poor tablet....Sounds to me that the Xoom is worth every penny in that case and is better value for money seeing as they are priced about the same.
slaguru666 23 March, 2011 16:20
Must feel good to all the (20 or so tech journo's) people that have Xooms at the moment.
At least Apple gives you a year to enjoy your waist of money / brilliant gadget, if you have a xoom at the moment the dreaded Moto hand of no upgrades death must be patting you on the back about now.
Anonymous 23 March, 2011 23:19
I say so what? This production run may end in a couple of months and a revised version will come out. How else can they improve the Xoom? The only specs that need to be improved are the weight and thickness. And both of those are actually silly items to be concerned with.
Also, consumers WANT devices that are packed with features. They just don't want the device to be heavy and bulky. The Xoom is a nice product, but Motorola does need to revise how they market their tablet products. Samsung's new 10.1 tablet is light, thin, has more features than that other tablet everyone compares with, and at the same price. So all Motorola really needs to do, in my opinion, is match the price at this point.
Anonymous 24 March, 2011 17:12
You have to love the comments like "The Xoom already challenges and wipes the floor with the iPad Duh!". Really, what's the color of the sky in your world??
Honestly, the success of any product never comes down to items on a spec sheet. It comes down to the overall usability of a product. While there are many pretenders out there, in the end, they all pale in comparison to the real thing. Nobody is moving this market in a new direction, everybody just seems to be copying Apple. That's all well and good, but copying the original isn't going to be enough.
Anonymous 27 March, 2011 11:34
You have to love comments like: "everybody just seems to be copying Apple".
Like 2 + 5 MP cameras, superior web browsing clients where the iPad has one, true multi-tasking as opposed to task-switching, HD higher-resolution, 3d vector graphics, being able to copy, paste, use virtually ANY type of software / audio where S.Jobs tells Apple users what they can and can not use, and even then ONLY via iTunes, 12 hours full use as opposed to 10, being able to write and use your own software within days as opposed to a 3 months check by Apple and even then it's up to Apple whether you can use it or not, SD card expandability, an HDMI slot, stereo speakers?
And, I've only scratched the surface!
Which of the above were you referring-to? ;-)
ace9988 11 April, 2011 20:17
so much for google's "flagship" android 3.0 device