Reference Auto

The tablet market in India is sizzling by the day, and after the rollout of HTC Flyer and BlackBerry PlayBook recently, will Motorola’s newly-launched tablet Xoom find a place in India’s overcrowded market, especially in the wake of its steep starting price of nearly Rs 33,000.

The Motorola device will come in two variants — Wi-Fi for Rs 32,990 and 3G for Rs 39,990.

The Xoom, based on the Android platform, comes with a 10.1-inch HD display, 1 GB RAM, 1 GHz dual core processor, a 5 megapixel rear-facing camera along with a 2 megapixel front-facing camera for video calls.

The Xoom will have a 32 GB internal storage that can be expanded up to an additional 32 GB with the help of an external microSD card slot. Other features that come with the Xoom include an HDMI port, Bluetooth and GPS with A-GPS, among others.

Motorola Mobility Mobile Devices business country head for sales and operations (India and South West Asia) Rajan Chawla averred, “Motorola Xoom will be redefining the tablet experience by offering future mobile experience today. Motorola Xoom will be a customer’s delight with its ease of use, speed and vivid graphics.”

There are a slew of gadgets slugging it out with Xoom, including the Apple iPad and iPad2, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Blackberry Playbook and HTC Flyer, among others.

Companies are bullish on the country’s tablet market and are rushing to grab a bite of this nascent segment with Research in Motion’s (BlackBerry’s) PlayBook along with HTC’s Flyer being rolled out only a few days ago.

While the Flyer is available for Rs 39,890, Blackberry’s Playbook comes in a range of prices — at Rs 27,990 (16 GB), Rs 32,990 (32 GB) and Rs 37,990 (64 GB). Meanwhile, Apple’s iPad is priced at Rs 29,500 and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab at Rs 26,000.

Apple was the first to launch a tablet — the iPad — while other rivals like Samsung aren’t behind. Companies have quickly rolled out their gizmos, like Dell, which has brought in its Streak to India. Even domestic players Spice and Olive have brought in their own versions of the tablet PC that are much cheaper.

There is huge potential for players who offer affordable sets along with 3G and hi-tech features. Experts feel that the tablets market in India could touch a whopping one million units in the next one year, especially on the backdrop of India’s 3G revolution.

In order to make deep inroads into the market, tablet makers will have to strike a heady balance between price and features, especially for their 3G models.

So, in a price-sensitive market like India, will Motorola (although a known brand in the country) find many takers for its Xoom, which comes quite dear — from Rs 33,000 (without 3G) to Rs 39,000 (with 3G), even though the high sales volume as well as growth predicted for tablets for the next two years could prompt all the players in the market to go for an aggressive ad blitz to push their poducts?