The tablet wars are definitely getting hotter in Australia… Telstra has just announced that it will sell the Motorola Xoom on its NextG network from next month. This news, of course, comes as the other main competitor to iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab will be sold through Vodaphone from next week.

There have been no direct reports on whether Apple feels threatened by the approaching wave of Androids, but it has launched a court case against Samsung for patent infringement. Apple has claims that the Galaxy S is too similar to the iPhone and breaches patent rights. In online media, last week, Apple accused Samsung of being too lazy to come up with anything original and blatantly copying Apple technology.

Telstra has not yet disclosed the price it means to set for Xoom. This price will, no doubt, be a major factor in its success. iPad 2 that retails at $579 as a starting price, is indeed a challenging opponent to beat. According to the majority of consumers, it has got everything. And it is hard to outdo ‘everything’.

However, according to Telstra’s Executive Director of mobility products, Motorola Xoom will hit the Australian market at the time when Australians are adopting both mobile devices powered by Android in unprecedented numbers.

It is my opinion that although Xoom has some features that are superior to anything possessed by other Androids and is definitely a strong competitor against anything else on the market, it is no iPad. Not yet, in any case.

Over and out (holding on to my newly arrived iPad2)

Mobile Geekette