Motorola’s announced that the Xoom 2 will be available for $720 outright or on a two year Telstra contract for $59 a month. At least they opted not to go for that silly ‘Xyboard’ naming scheme.
News.com.au reports on the plan — I’m still waiting for the official release — which will see the Xoom 2 launch today, some months after its UK release or for that matter its US release, but without the US naming, which would see it called the Xyboard. The Xoom 2 does address many of the most common complaints about the original Xoom — it’s thinner than the chunky Xoom, the internal processor’s been beefed up to a 1.2GHz dual-core model and it’s lighter as well.
Still, I think it’s fair to say that in the battle for hearts and minds, Motorola’s running a race behind Samsung and Asus in the Android tablet space, as well as that-fruit-themed-company-that-I-dare-not-name-lest-I-be-accused-of-bias-in-the-comments-section that they’re all chasing for tablet buyer’s dollars.
Except I guess I just did, and so, while I’m damned, it’s undoubtedly no coincidence that Motorola’s launching right now; if the rumoured dates for the release of the next Apple tablet are even slightly on the money, expect fever pitch anticipation (and thus less focus on the rest of the market) very shortly indeed. [News.com.au]