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Comment by thought_alarm | Hacker News Reader

... and you have to purchase a data plan before you can use WiFi.

The iPad is still the only tablet in the history of personal computing that makes any sense.

At the low end $20/month plan, assuming a two year contract, that's $1280 total. Yikes.

The pricing psychology of the iPad starting at $500, then relatively small incremental updates that increase the size and give it 3G makes for a much easier sell.

The Xoom does look like nice hardware - I just wonder if they'll sell enough of them to reach economies of scale and drive the price down.

After further reading, it appears that you only need to buy one month of Verizon service (no 2-year contract), so the total is $819.

(Would have fixed the parent post but can't edit for some reason...)

That's better, although still a bit confusing. It's supposed to be a "Google experience" device meaning no manufacturer/carrier crapware or deliberate crippling, so it's not clear how they'd prevent you from using wifi if you never sign up for data.

From the way it was described to me at CES, it would be sold as an "on-contract device". That may have changed, but FWIW

Motorola seems to have two big problems: price and distribution. I think this illustrates Apple's buying power for components and the pricing that results. The second is going to be a bigger problem. Having to cripple your device (tying WiFi to cell service) because you best distribution is through the cell carier is going to be painful. They need to find a channel that allows them the ability that sells a WiFi model that can get the price down. Apple has their own stores and can buy big. If an Android tablet is to be successful, they need an entry leve to compete with the $499 iPad and iPod touch.

Distribution is a huge advantage for Apple. Motorola, RIM and most of the cell manufacturers have no experience selling away from the carrier. HP knows how and Samsung knows how but Samsung's tablets are developed and sold through its smartphone division, which doesn't sell outside of the carriers.

Clearly some kind of deal was struck with Verizon. Since the initial Xoom press release said the WiFi version would come first and we have confirmation that it does exist (http://tinyurl.com/5wr82ge). Plus Verizon made a big deal about having it first at CES (http://tinyurl.com/28rqdvk)

My guess is Verizon gets the first Honeycomb tablet and Motorola gets a guarantee for a significant marketing push. I have no doubt there will be a WiFi only version the question is just how long it will be before we can buy it.

my initial reaction was that this has to be an error, but now I think it may be referring to WiFi hotspot functionality.

Help me here, I'm trying hard to come up with a scenario which doesn't involve painting the people involved in well... a less than optimal light

clearly that's a cock-up in the copy

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