Motorola Xoom released and gets taken apart

The Motorola Xoom was released this week without much fun fare and apart from a handful of technophiles, I didn't see the level of excitement we got when the iPad was released. As far as I know there were no queues in the stores selling the Xoom.

So far the reviews have been quite positive. What makes the Xoom  unique is the fact that it is equipped to handle the next generation 4G mobile broadband - something that the iPad or even the iPhone has.

Anyway, the Xoom has been hacked into and taken apart a few hours after it was released.

The real question is whether the Xoom can be a credible challenge to the iPad and even though it has a lot going for it technically, the answer seems to be a big "No!" One of the biggest issues I have against it is the price - $600 with a two-year Verizon contract and almost $800 without contract. I expect the prices to be higher when it is released in the UK. BTW, it was recently announced that the Xoom will be sold by The Carphone Warehouse, Best Buy and Dixons Retail Plc. (Currys and PC World) in the UK.

I am not sure how many people would be willing to spend that kind of money for a tablet considering the brand image of it's biggest competitor - the iPad and the soon to be released, iPad 2.