EXCLUSIVE: Sales of the Motorola Xoom tablet are ‘booming’ with some Telstra dealers struggling to get stock, the CEO of Motorola Mobility has said. He also claims that it is superior, with Android capabilities that Apple doesn’t have that are helping Telstra sell their new tablet and Smartphone.Launched last month, the US Company has recently installed a series of unique displays in Telstra retail stores for the 10 inch Android tablet; they have also accelerated shipment of the new device into Australia to meet demand.
According to Timo Brouwer the Managing Director of Motorola Mobility, the Android operating system is proving popular because it delivers, both at a mobile and tablet level, capabilities that the iPad and the iPhone don’t deliver. He said that some Telstra dealers sold out of their stock allocation within days of getting the device.
He cited navigation and voice control as just two areas where consumers have a significant advantage over an iPad.
Another feature that is proving popular according to Telstra staff is the ability to easily transfer folders and bookmarks that have been set up in a Chrome PC browser to an Android tablet or Android mobile phone.
Brouwer said that in July, Telstra will make the new Google OS available for the new dual core Motorola Atrix Smartphone, a move that will allow consumers to have “easy” voice and navigation control across both their Android Smartphone and Tablet.
“Voice and the ability to talk to a device is a key differentiator. At a recent Google tech seminar I watched as a Google engineer picked up a tablet, said ‘memo’, and then dictated a memo, he then said ‘send’, and the message was sent to several people at once”.
When asked about Apple’s new iCloud service Brouwer said: “Cloud computing is not new. Google has been delivering cloud based services for ages, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are all cloud based services. Apple’s announcement is not earth shattering, even Optus is offering a cloud based storage service for their customers”.
He added: “Android is an open eco system which is why Motorola chose it. Going forward you will see vendors like Motorola developing layers of differentiation that will sit on top of the Android OS. We already have Moto Blur which is a cloud based service, which allows a user to transfer content from one device to another when they log in. This started out as a social network service and we are now broadening this out to be a lot more than a social network capability”.
“In the future we will use Moto Blur as a diagnostic tool; we will interrogate devices and application offering remote fixes. We will track what is sucking battery life if a customer is having a problem while also offering users tips on how to get better performance out of their device,” he said.
“Android has a lot of superior advantages over the iPhone or iPad and voice to text is just one of them. Navigation is another with turn by turn and navigation already integrated into several Google services.”
When asked whether it was harder to sell Android devices over an Apple device, he said: “Yes, we have to help retailers better explain the capabilities of Android over an Apple iOS device. We are currently working with Telstra to deliver new education displays. We do not want to see our devices sold simply on price which is why we are working closely with a carrier”.
