Motorola executive praises Apple, sheds no light on future of Xoom

Motorola have praised Apple’s endeavours in the tablet market and their part in making tablet devices amongst the most sought-after pieces of tech around.

Rather than expressing bitterness at the US company’s dominance of the sector, Motorola executive, Andy Hooper called Apple a “great competitor to have” and spoke of the iPad device as a “benchmark” for others to follow.

Hooper, who is Motorola’ director for converged experiences and software in Europe and the Middle East, said Apple have shown other manufacturers the potential of the tablet market:

“I think the opportunity is there [to take on Apple],” he said. “They are a great competitor to have because they have set a great benchmark. There was absolutely no surprise around what they did with the iPad 2, and my own thought is that they could have done more. But it moves so quickly that there is no resting on any laurels anywhere and ultimately we have to go out and bring a quality product to the market.”

In the context of leaked reports from yesterday, which spoke of a new Xoom tablet to be unveiled later in the year, the latter part of Hooper’s comment is interesting.

It appears the director is in favour of moving forward quickly in terms of competing with iPad 2, although whether this involves an overhaul of a device not released in the UK until next month remains to be seen.

Anything beyond the fact that Motorola view 2011 as “an exciting year” remains pure speculation.

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