Motorola doesn't plan orders for iPad-competing Xoom past June - report
Motorola will reportedly reduce orders for its Xoom tablet starting in the second quarter of 2011, and no orders are apparently scheduled past June, suggesting a Xoom successor and newer competitor to Apple's iPad 2 is already in the works.
Motorola's newly released Xoom tablet will already receive fewer orders from its manufacturer starting in the second quarter of 2011, according to Digitimes. Sources told the industry publication that Motorola will gradually drop its Xoom orders each month beginning in the second quarter.
Orders are expected to decrease to around 300,000 units in April, down from between 400,000 and 500,000 in March. And shipments will go below 300,000 in May, the report said.
In fact, Motorola's current schedule only has the company placing orders for the Xoom until the end of June, sources reportedly told the Taiwanese publication.
"The sources believe the unclear market status of iPad-like tablet PCs is the reason for Motorola to reduce its orders," the report said, "and the company may launch a new Xoom model in the second half after evaluating the situation."
Shipments of the Xoom are expected to reach between 3 million and 5 million in 2011. The Xoom was hyped with a Super Bowl advertisement before the 3G-radio-equipped version of the touchscreen tablet went on sale in February.
Those sales estimates are well behind the market leader, Apple's iPad 2. DigiTimes reported earlier this month that shipments of the iPad 2 are expected to reach between 10 million and 12 million in the second quarter of 2011 alone.
Apple is reportedly on track to hit a target of 40 million iPads produced in 2011. Apple sold a total of 15 million iPads from its debut in April 2010 until last December, for a total of $9.5 billion in revenue.
Motorola's newly released Xoom tablet will already receive fewer orders from its manufacturer starting in the second quarter of 2011, according to Digitimes. Sources told the industry publication that Motorola will gradually drop its Xoom orders each month beginning in the second quarter.
Orders are expected to decrease to around 300,000 units in April, down from between 400,000 and 500,000 in March. And shipments will go below 300,000 in May, the report said.
In fact, Motorola's current schedule only has the company placing orders for the Xoom until the end of June, sources reportedly told the Taiwanese publication.
"The sources believe the unclear market status of iPad-like tablet PCs is the reason for Motorola to reduce its orders," the report said, "and the company may launch a new Xoom model in the second half after evaluating the situation."
Shipments of the Xoom are expected to reach between 3 million and 5 million in 2011. The Xoom was hyped with a Super Bowl advertisement before the 3G-radio-equipped version of the touchscreen tablet went on sale in February.
Those sales estimates are well behind the market leader, Apple's iPad 2. DigiTimes reported earlier this month that shipments of the iPad 2 are expected to reach between 10 million and 12 million in the second quarter of 2011 alone.
Apple is reportedly on track to hit a target of 40 million iPads produced in 2011. Apple sold a total of 15 million iPads from its debut in April 2010 until last December, for a total of $9.5 billion in revenue.
Comments
Well at least Moto is on the ball and picking it self up, dusting itself off and trying again.
Man that sucks for the people who just bought the Xoom. The one year product upgrade cycles from Apple are bad enough, but less than 6 months? OUCH. I know this doesnt affect the acutal functionality of current Xooms, but still would have to make people who bought them wish they had waited a little.
I'm interested in how long Moto will support the Xoom if they do have really quick release cycles? One year tops, maybe...
Man that sucks for the people who just bought the Xoom. The one year product upgrade cycles from Apple are bad enough, but less than 6 months? OUCH. I know this doesnt affect the acutal functionality of current Xooms, but still would have to make people who bought them wish they had waited a little.
This will be an ongoing problem with the clones in general and they struggle to find an iPad killer.
Motorola will reportedly reduce orders for its Xoom tablet starting in the second quarter of 2011, and no orders are apparently scheduled past June, suggesting a Xoom successor and newer competitor to Apple's iPad 2 is already in the works.
Or simply that no one is buying and the current supply on hand is enough to last indefinitely...
Or simply that no one is buying and the current supply on hand is enough to last indefinitely...
Possibly.
This will be an ongoing problem with the clones in general and they struggle to find an iPad killer.
About a day before I go my iPad2 I got an email from Costco saying I could order a Xoom for 598.00 without a contract and it would ship April 1st. So something is going on.
Maybe next time they will actually finish the product before they start selling it.
Yeah I just posted that Costco had sent me an email pushing the Xoom for 598.00 without a contract. They were shipping them April 1st.
This will be an ongoing problem with the clones in general and they struggle to find an iPad killer.
It is pretty difficult to just jump into the game at the very top as these competitors are attempting to do. Although Apple appeared to have leapt to the top of the smart phone market, it was actually a long well planned execution starting with iTunes, and the iPod ecosystem built over a period of several years that facilitated their success with iOS devices.
Or:
"no orders are apparently scheduled past June, suggesting Motorola has given up attempting to compete with Apple in the tablet space"
I kinda doubt the latter possibility, since the potential market for tablets is so overwhelming. But still...
Apple will build a product from the ground up with almost un-parallel precision of it and finish while the competition just trolls out a ME TO device.
Apple controls their hardware and software. On the other hand Moto and Sammy just cranks out hardware with a 3rd party OS and hopes for the best. And this will be a continuing themes throughout this tablet zeitgeist.