Motorola Xoom is awesome. But…

All the good things have to end. Seems like Motorola Xoom’s goodness of teasers ads and CES awards have come to a grinding halt. No there are no bricking the devices or damaged touch screens, but worse. Motorola Xoom, first real Android tablet and a possible iPad competitor costs $800. If that’s not enough to not buy it, then the WiFi feature will be unlocked only if you take a specific data plan. You can’t just use the tablet as a eReading and video watching without the hassles of a data plan. You just have to have the data plan. Just what did they a pack in that Xoom anyway? I hope the price isn’t for the barometer Xoom comes with.

Samsung Galaxy Tab has thrown similar surprise with its $600 launch. Looks like Motorola thought it is better than Galaxy Tab and should cost more too. Samsung which launched its tablet with a price tag of Rs. 37000, has slowly dropped the price of its tablet in India which is hovering around Rs. 29K. Good sense prevails for Galaxy Tab and now it has its work cut-out because of iPad’s arrival in India. Same thing could happen to Motorola Xoom too.

Motorola will at some point launch this tablet in India. To clear the stocks at least. If we translate that to today’s dollars, it would be around Rs. 37000. Since a vendor lock-in isn’t something Indians like, Motorola cannot have WiFi lock-in, which would only push the price north wards. Time and again, there is one important factor which drives gadget sales in India : Price. If you aint coming cheap, then you aint coming at all.

Come to think of it, waiting for the perfect Android tablet is a big waste of time. May be you should go ahead and buy that iPad or if you are just want to read then buy that Kindle. Nothing beats them. For Xoom’s price, may be you can have both with a little change to buy a barometer. No kidding.