With the unveiling of Amazon's new $199 Kindle Fire causing some to predict a two horse race in the tablet market between the online retail giant and Apple, Motorola is attempting to remedy poor sales of its Xoom tablet in the US through a series of price cuts.

The latest will see the entry level wi-fi only 16GB Xoom – marketed by Motorola as a 'family tablet' – retailing for $379 in selective retailers.

How low can you go?

It's believed to be a temporary measure only – the price set to rise back up to $399 in the near future – but nonetheless stands as evidence of the steps the firm is having to take to ground out some space in the tablet market.

Indeed, the story of the $99 TouchPad - dropped by HP one minute and then transformed into a bestseller then next – is a prime example of just how much difference a low price can make.

For the very same reason, analysts have high hopes for Kindle Fire – though, in truth, its low price may hit sales of fellow Android tablets harder than it does iPad.

Figures taken from Motorola's last quarterly results peg current Xoom shipments at somewhere above the 690,000 mark. More recent numbers will come to light when the company's Q3 2011 results are published.

In contrast, IDC reports shipments for iPad 2 hit 9.3 million in Q2 2011 alone.

[source: mocoNews]