Motorola to sell cheaper version of Xoom tablet

Motorola Mobility Inc. has said that it will sell a cheaper version of its Xoom tablet computer that's geared toward families. The device will be available starting Sunday and will only be sold at Best Buy Co. stores.

Like the existing Xoom, the Xoom Family Edition has a touch screen that measures 10.1 inches at the diagonal, a dual-core processor, front and rear cameras and runs Google Inc.'s tablet-geared Android software, Honeycomb. It has less memory though: 16 gigabytes, compared with 34 gigabytes on the existing Xoom. Motorola said Family Edition will cost $379 - $120 less than what the cheapest Xoom currently costs - and it will come with a number of family-friendly apps built in.

It's unclear how long the Xoom Family Edition will keep its lower price tag, though: In a press release, Motorola called it a "limited-time value price."

As more companies enter the burgeoning tablet market in hopes of competing with Apple Inc.'s extremely popular iPad, the pressure is on to drop prices in order to woo consumers.

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