Motorola Xoom 3G pre-order price drops to £199

Carphone Warehouse has reduced the upfront charge for the Motorola Xoom to £199, and is bundling the device with an unlimited data allowance that could prove popular with business users.

Customers interested in this this package will be required to sign a 24-month contract at £25 a month. This brings the total cost of the 32GB 3G Xoom to £799 over the two-year period.

Although this might seem pricey, the clinching factor is likely to be the inclusion of unlimited data, which also appears to be excluded from any type of fair use policy.

The pricing is also cheaper than deals being offered for the equivalent iPad 2. The retailer is offering a 32GB, 3G iPad 2 for an upfront £249 if customers pay £25 a month.

However, data use on the iPad 2 is capped at 15GB a month by Three, and a considerably lower 1GB a month by Orange and T-Mobile.

The offer of unlimited data on the Xoom may make a difference, but it is unlikely to trigger mass adoption of the device in the enterprise, according to Nick McQuire, EMEA research director for enterprise mobility at IDC.

"The price reduction will be a shot in the arm for Motorola, as the original price point was steep compared to the iPad 2," he told V3.co.uk.

"However, Android is still being treated with caution by IT administrators as it is in its evolutionary stages with regards to security and usability."

Motorola will be hoping that the price cut boosts sales after the Xoom got off to a slow start in the tablet market in the US.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank estimated that the firm sold only 100,000 units after two months on sale in the US. In comparison, the iPad 2 is estimated to have sold 2.6 million units since its launch.

An official shipping date for the Xoom has yet to be announced, but is believed that Motorola will launch the device in April.

V3.co.uk had a hands-on with the Motorola Xoom at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.