Motorola Goes After Apple’s iPad in Super Bowl Teaser Spot for Xoom Tablet

In its iconic “1984” Super Bowl ad for the Macintosh, Apple went after IBM, pitching itself as an alternative to a monoculture of cookie-cutter computers. Fast-forward 27 years and Motorola is trying to use the same approach to attack Apple.



In a Super Bowl teaser ad posted to YouTube on Monday, Motorola pitches its forthcoming Xoom tablet as an alternative to Apple’s iPad.

“2011 looks a lot like 1984,” Motorola says in the ad, which features an image of the Earth surrounded by Apple’s white headphones. “One authority. One design. One way to work. It’s time for more choices.”

The ad then touts some of the Xoom’s features, such as its dual-core chip, HD video playback, front- and rear-facing cameras and its ability to play Flash.

The tablet wars are clearly heating up, with all the players staking out their space. RIM also posted a video on its Web site, touting the business capabilities of its yet-to-be-released PlayBook tablet. The video shows the PlayBook being connected to a BlackBerry and using a Flash-enabled dashboard from SAP’s Business Objects unit. RIM plans to talk more about its developer plans at an event on Thursday in San Francisco.

Meanwhile, Google is hosting an event on Wednesday to go deeper into its tablet-oriented Honeycomb version of Android. The Xoom, which debuts next month, is to be the first device running Honeycomb.

Mobilized will be on hand to provide coverage of both the RIM and Google events.

Here is Motorola’s Super Bowl teaser ad:

For those who need a refresher, here was Apple’s Super Bowl spot introducing the Macintosh: