Motorola Ships 250,000 Xooms, Sells Even Fewer

Thursday, April 28, 2011 marked the release of Motorola’s financial results from the first quarter of this fiscal year. In this document Motorola indicates having shipped over 250,000 Xoom devices, while also reporting a net loss for the same time period.

It should be noted that there was no detail provided on the number of Xooms actually sold to consumers, only those released to the channel. In fact, many reports indicate it may be as few as 15,000 devices sold.

In contrast, Apple released their financial results for the second quarter of its fiscal year, which ended in March, 2011 and was pleased to report selling 4.7 million iPads during this time.

The Xoom is the first tablet to take advantage of the Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) platform and was regarded to be the most significant threat to the iPad to date. A spec by spec comparison does render the devices in a very competitive light with most critics hailing the open nature of the Android platform, but there is no underestimating the power of the identity and elegance of the iPad. Consumers are drawn to it.

Before the release of the iPad 2, the Xoom may have had a larger upper hand –but with the addition of the dual cameras, faster processor and slimmer profile, the iPad 2 has closed the gap. Add to that the simplicity of the hardware configurations, making it much easier for iOS developers to deliver solid, bug-free applications as compared to the contingencies required to develop for the ever varied Android hardware options and it becomes easier to see why more consumers are reaching toward Apple instead of Motorola.

Motorola shouldn’t be too hard on themselves. By comparison, Research in Motion (RIM) has also reported significant financial loss following the lackluster release of their Playbook tablet, their non-iOS/non-Android entry into the mobile market.

One thing is for certain: by specification standards the Xoom is a device to be reckoned with, and that will only make the iPad stronger in an effort to remain competitive.