Xoom tablet to cost $800, hit stores this month?

(Ars Technica) -- Best Buy appears to have revealed even more details about the Motorola Xoom tablet, which is looking more and more like it's slated for release on February 24.
A store ad, leaked on Sunday, also showed the device's expected price and revealed that, even if you only want to use WiFi on the Xoom, you'll have to pay for a data plan for at least a little while.
Best Buy's ad, posted by Engadget, clearly reads that the Xoom will be available in stores on February 24 and that it will cost $799.99 before data.

That's a week later and $100 higher than what the site's sources had previously said, but others had expected something more like $800 based on documents allegedly leaked from Verizon. Previous leaks from Best Buy had shown a February 24 launch date.
More interesting, though, is the fine print underneath the main product shot, which reads, "To activate WiFi functionality on this device, a minimum of 1 month data subscription is required."
So, if you thought you'd buy a Xoom -- which works on WiFi, Verizon's 3G network, and its 4G/LTE network -- and get out of paying for an extra data plan, you were wrong. (At least it's only one month.)
And, speaking of data plans, users will be able to get 1GB of cellular data on the device for $20 per month and up to 10GB for $80.
We must admit that a launch in a couple weeks is somewhat surprising, given that Motorola's own floor models at CES last month were only capable of running video demos.
Additionally, Google had Xooms on hand during its official Honeycomb preview last week, but only Google employees were allowed to run demos using them.
If the product is practically ready for launch, shouldn't they be in a sufficiently stable state that they can be handed to journalists?

Still, it's hard to argue with the evidence -- after all, the timing of the flyer was coincidentally tied to the Xoom's Super Bowl ad as well as the launch of Motorola's Xoom portal online.

by :BBC News