We love hardware wars, and when it comes to tablets, Apple is still king of the hill. This week, Deutsche Bank estimated that Motorola has only sold 100,000 XOOM tablets. In its first week, the Apple iPad sold 300,000 units with total sales hovering around 20 million units to date. Industry watchers are split on where 100K falls in terms of hit/flop. Most are proclaiming it a dud, while Joe Wilcox at BetaNews is taking a different stance:

Actually, XOOM is a surprising success. The tablet came to market with four huge handicaps, all of which make comparisons to iPad 2 unrealistic: 1. For most of its sales life, XOOM has been attached to Verizon -- first sold unsubsidized for $800. XOOM costs more than the comparable iPad 2. 2. Lower Verizon pricing came later, $600, but with 2-year data commitment. Apple doesn't require AT&T or Verizon data contracts for iPad. 3. Still later, March 27, the $600 WiFi-only went on sale. So for most of the two-month sales period, the most affordable and comparably attractive to iPad 2 XOOM model wasn't available. 4. Early adopters will have to send their tablets back to Motorola to be retrofitted with 4G radios. That's a huge sales deterrent. Source: BetaNews

Our Take: Maybe flop is a bit harsh, but the XOOM is not our first pick for an innovative tablet by far.