Jha confirmed that the Xoom will cost around $800 in the US, defending the price on the basis that it was competitive with the top-end iPad, at $729, and would be able to connect to 50-megabit-per-second mobile connections from the communications company Verizon via a software update in the future.Besides, even though Finder does a pretty good job of managing the iPhone, Apple’s versatile file manager still lacks quite a few essential features like the option to let users restore data selectively.

The Xoom will be the first device that will feature Honeycomb and use a larger 10-inch screen.

Google had not responded to a request for comment as this story was completed.Īpple's iPad tablet, launched just over a year ago, sold around 15m units in 2010, prompting the launch of a number of rivals, almost all of which use a 7-inch screen, giving them only half the total screen area of the 10-inch iPad, and using earlier versions of Android designed for the smaller screens of smartphones. At the time, Google vice-president Vic Gundotra said that its technology would be used in a desktop application offering remote access to music and unprotected films to Android devices. In spring last year Google acquired Simplify Media, a startup which allowed people to share digitised music across platforms, including the web.

Music executives told Billboard that Rubin has personally contacted them about the idea of a Google music service that would include an online store and service.Īpple's iTunes music store, first launched in April 2003, has sold more than 10bn songs, a milestone it passed in February 2010, and has a 66% share of worldwide online digital music sales, making it the largest music retailer, despite competition from Amazon. They include Andy Rubin, a vice-president of engineering, who is in overall charge of Android's evolution. Last Friday, Billboard magazine published a list of executives at Google who are believed to be involved in the project. The Honeycomb release, which appears to be tied to the release of the Xoom, is expected within the next two months. Now Jha has indicated that it will rely on Honeycomb, which is a version of Google's free mobile operating system that has been specifically written for tablet computers. Google has been expected to launch a 'Google Music' service for some time, but it has been unclear how it would promote it.

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