Motorola Mobility Xoom rates: have a case?

Motorola mobility confirmed the tech industry's worst-kept secret: Xoom The Tablet PC with 32 GB of storage and 4 G can you run $ 800 unsubsidized. A Wi-Fi only version will run about $ 600.

This disclosure by Motorola CEO Sanjay JHA mobility, speaking at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, has sparked debate. My first reaction is that the price is too high and that Motorola mobility may have come down. However, JHA has a different case. Listen to the man.

also: Motorola Xoom pre-sale ' confirmed ' for the 20 February, Atrix 4 G on February 22,

In Defense of the $ 800 price tag for a version of Wi-Fi, 3 G to 4 G, Motorola mobility think you can get $ 800 because:

The Xoom has a free upgrade to LTE network, Verizon Wireless (a huge advantage in my opinion).The Xoom 32 GB is only $ 70 more expensive than the current hardware iPad. The 32 GB is competitive with iPad.

The Wi-Fi only version will be right around the price of $ 599 for 32 GB iPad set.

My take: JHA has a point about 4 G, and that is a big selling point for the Xoom. Motorola mobility will be among the first Tablet PC makers offer speed and downloads at 50Mbps.

Another key decision here revolves around your faith in the honeycomb Android. Demonstrations for honeycomb look swell forecast, but the operating system is still an unknown commodity in the field. Meanwhile, there is a mental hurdle. I still believe that Android is expected at a discount price for iPad.

Meanwhile, the next version will have a iPad Wi-Fi 32 GB $ 499.

And another bet with Xoom: believe that Motorola mobility can keep its price you should assume that consumers will be demanding. There is no sure bet. Bottom line: The Xoom 32 GB iPad 16 GB will be compared to $ 499 initially.

Stifel Nicolaus analyst Doug Reid said:

We remain confident that Motorola mobility will drive strong early adoption of Xoom (a $ 799 unsubsidized) based as a first time-to-market, 4 G-upgradeable product of Android 3.0 (important). We expect that the mobility of Motorola to launch lowest price-point devices in the coming months 3-9 and drive margin expansion.

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Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic.