I really think it’s a bad move to label your future customers as mindless clones. I know Apple did it in 1984 and that was such an iconic commercial but it didn’t actually do them much good either.
The tablet is going to cost $800 plus apparently an extra $55 data plan or they don’t activate the WiFi. That’s a big mistake. It might be the most powerful tablet on the market (and only months ago we were speculating that the RIM Playbook was going to achieve that. Fast forward and Apple won’t be resting on their laurels.
Part of the problem also is that in most of the advert, the tablet could be an iPad. Every manufacturer waited until they saw what Apple was doing and then just cloned it and put someone elses software on there, usually with their own unique skin which just means you end up rooting the device just to update it in a timely fashion or, more likely, the device gets abandoned by the hardware manufacturer or the carrier and you never get an update.
| I’m really nervous for these manufacturers who put so much emphasis on Adobe® Flash® as being a major selling point for their tablets. The iPad not having Flash is a big deal to some (mostly in the cash strapped education sector) but it’s not really a big a deal as these guys think. Obviously these products are driven by executives who are utterly convinced that the lack of Flash is Apple’s Achilles heel, that it represents some sort of extreme vulnerability. I guess they also think that Apple couldn’t add Flash to the tablet with a single point update of their software. |  [Click the image to go to the Xoom product page or just hover to see the wacky memorable URL] |
My prediction: the Xoom is a great product that is hampered by a too-high price and a dumb data-plan necessity (which must be fuelling some sort of subsidy?). Much like the Galaxy Tab, it will fail to make a dent in the market.
Best comment ever? by 4esteR
What I learned? from this ad:
1. Only one guy is going to buy it.
2. iOS users are hot.