10-inch tablets from HTC and Dell tipped as Xoom starts off slow

That the exorbitant price tag is the main reason for slow sales. It's bad news when Apple is undercutting your price point.

After all, you can buy two netbooks for the price of one of these. Or, a good netbook and a smartphone..

The Chinese Android Tabs are real cheap with a decent build quality for the price. Also, Atom-based Tabs are becoming available, including the Tenq P07 Ubuntu Tablet. All are at or below the iPad entry models. Samsung, Dell, et al are charging WAY to much for what they're selling.

But AFAIK Xoom will be $499, isn't it?

I've been pretty happy with my NookColor at $249. Sure it's only billed as an E-reader, but the hardware is quite capable and it really shines after it is "liberated".

I'd like to see B&N take the initiative to market this device as the true tablet that it really is. They stand on a price point that could bring the company an outstanding success.

@hkwint

The Xoom is $800 without a contract. I think you can get it down somewhere around $600 if you take at least a 2 year contract with a provider.

So, it's quite expensive compared to the iPad.

Of course, for me, this is neither here nor there. I have no use for either of them. But I think it helps to explain the slow sales more than how buggy Android is. After all there are a lot of people buying Android phones.

The Nationite Midnite is around $250 for a Cortex A8 7" w/ Capacitive screen & GPS. You add your own storage (microSD to augment the measly 2GB NAND flash built in), complete w/ accelerometers in the A81g model (re-branded WitsTech A81e/g series).

Then, there's the Always Innovating Smartbook... It's a convertible Netbook/Tablet/uMID that runs Android/Chromium/Ubuntu in a "switch on the fly" configuration. The uMID is a large-ish smart-phone style MID that can be docked inside the larger Tablet body, which can be docked into the removable keyboard, in turn. At each stage, docking increases available battery life & peripheral connections. About $585...

Lastly, there's the soon to be released Tenq P07. About $450-500. It's an Atom-based Capacitive Tablet, running a full Ubuntu. So, it's got 100% Linux compatibility with various distros, plus it can be configured with 1 or 2GB RAM, & a 16 or 32GB SSD.

So, better deals can be had. Apple & Motorola & Dell, et al. are way overpriced.

Sorry, confused US Rubles with UK rubles. Whatever, they're all foreign to me.

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/motorola-xoom-internet-tablet-...

No provider abbo needed as far as I can tell.

Now, what's interesting to note, is in the UK the iPad2 will probably have the same price.

_penguinist: "Reggies 10 year old son" sells home-customized / 'upgraded' Nooks for $299, which are about as fast as the iPad. http://boombustblog.com/research-performance/2011/03/04/stev...