Motorola's Xoom 3G contract may resemble iPad's - CNET

The upcoming Motorola Xoom tablet may be offered with a 3G contract similar to that of the iPad. That is, if Verizon maintains the current tablet contract scheme it offers with Samsung's Galaxy Tab.

Motorla's Xoom is one of the most highly anticipated tablets since the introduction of Apple's iPad early last year. The Xoom will be the first tablet to use Google's Android 3.0 operating system ("Honeycomb"), have front and rear-facing cameras, a dual-core Nvidia processor, and Google Talk with video chat, among other marquee features.

Verizon offers the 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab tablet--which has integrated 3G capability--only one way: for full price ($499.99) with a month-to-month 3G contract. This makes the structure of the 3G contract more or less the same as the iPad's, which is also month-to-month.

Will the Motorola Xoom follow suit? That, of course, remains to be seen, but Verizon's across-the-board pricing strategy for tablets is currently to offer the tablet at full price with month-to-month 3G, according to documentation that can be obtained at Verizon stores.

Verizon is already on the record, stating that the "XOOM device will launch as a 3G/Wi-Fi-enabled device in Q1 2011 with an upgrade to 4G LTE in Q2."

Verizon tablet 3G data pricing differs slightly from iPad pricing. The iPad offers a 2GB data plan for $25 a month, on a month-to-month basis. For tablets, Verizon currently offers a 1GB plan for $20 and a 3GB plan for $35. (Verizon also offers a 5GB plan for $50 a month and a 10GB plan for $80.)

The full price of the Xoom is not known yet, though rumors have it ranging from $699 to about $799. The iPad 3G ranges from $629 to $829.

There is also the possibility that Verizon will offer a two-year contract that would likely bring down the Xoom's price.

One of the outstanding questions is whether the Xoom will be more of a 4G device, as Verizon's promotional materials seem to indicate.

It is not clear at this point how a 4G data plan for a Verizon tablet would be structured.

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Motorola's new 15 seconds of anti-Apple 1984 ad - CNET

If you had thought, or even hoped, that a Motorola ad released earlier this week, railing at Apple's alleged controlling of the world, was the real thing, then you will be disappointed.

However, if you live your life believing that Apple's bells, whistles, balls, and chains prevent you from walking and thinking, you may rejoice a little more.

For Motorola has released 15 seconds of the ad the company will actually run to launch its Xoom tablet during tomorrow's big game.

What an extraordinary, moving, revolutionary ad it promises to be. Perhaps.

The company wants you, who have been so silly as to buy an iPad, to understand that you are merely one big woolly sheep. You have been duped into conformity, uniformity, perhaps even psychological deformity, by Apple's wicked Big Brother brainwashing.

Motorola understands you. It knows you are desperately reading "1984" on your iPad. It knows you like wearing your tie down like Johnny Depp (or Rupert Everett in "Another Country"). It knows you like a tight gray sweater to encircle your lean, fit frame. It knows you like flowers.

One can only hope that, when this ad finally airs, the whole of America will utter a relieved roar, leap from its sofa, and applaud a new beginning, a new magic, a new revolution.

Personally, I am hoping for a little humor in the midst of all this Xoom-peddling doom-mongering.

But then I always thought "1984" was a comedy.

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