It seems as if launching a tablet loaded with a half-baked Honeycomb OS (Android 3.0) may have backfired for Motorola.
First off, Honeycomb was released without (initial) Flash support.
D’oh!
Then, as we recently reported, the Android Market (still) only offers between 17-50 Honeycomb-specific apps.
This is quite a pathetic figure, really, especially if you think about all the iOS apps specially optimized for Apple’s shiny iPad 2.
Of course, the Xoom’s over-blown $800 price tag didn’t exactly help Motorola’s cause either.
Seriously, what were the clueless (and useless) marketing suits and ties at Motorola thinking?
If you don’t have the ecosystem, at least lower the damn price so you can more effectively compete against Apple.
So, yes, it really comes as little surprise to me that Pacific Crest analyst James Faucette confirmed what many in the industry have long suspected: the Xoom tablet isn’t faring well at all.
Neither, for that matter, is Motorola’s Atrix smartphone, as it just can’t seem to compete against the price points set for Apple’s 3GS and HTC’s Inspire.
Faucette – who termed sales of both the Xoom and Atrix “disappointing” – also axed his 2011 revenue forecast for the company to $12.2 billion from $13.7 billion, cutting his profit projection to 64 cents, from 94 cents.
In addition, the analyst emphasized there could be further “downside risk” to 2011 and 2012 estimates – unless the company “quickly adjusted and refreshed” its product portfolio.
“[Motorola must] substantially differentiate [itself] from the rest of the pack. If they fail to do so, we believe shareholders may be looking at another meaningful step down,” he added.
I don’t suppose anyone at Motorola will take my suggestion seriously, but hey, if there is a stuffy corporate hack reading this, you may want to try regaining your mobile mojo by lowering your prices – before it’s too late.
Just sayin’.
