Laptop Thoughts: Price Tag Makes Xoom Not So Fast

"The Motorola Xoom may be priced on the high side with an $800 price tag for launch on February 24th according to an advertisement from Best Buy. The Android 3.0 Honeycomb capacitive touchscreen tablet will initially launch with Verizon Wireless’s 3G CDMA/EV-DO support and will have the radio be upgradeable to 4G at a later date. At $800, the price point may be comparable to the highest end iPad model–the iPad 3G at 16 GB retails for $629, 32 GB for $729, and 64 GB for $829."

Sure, the Motorola Xoom has some impressive specifications and looks like it is a great device to have, but ouch. That price is high enough to make me seriously reconsider a purchase at least seven or eight times. They say that tablet sales are cannibalizing notebook sales and no wonder! I imagine that a great deal of people are unable to afford anything after buying a Xoom and its requisite data plan. All I can think of is that $800 these days can buy a pretty powerful notebook, even one that is portable and lightweight. Does the Xoom really command that much desire in people? What about you? Is the sticker shock enough to turn you away or will you be buying the Xoom regardless of how many children you have to sell?