The Motorola Xoom looks pretty cool and, assuming the price makes sense, it may well give the iPad a run for its money.

But in checking it out, what caught my eye was this video -- it's almost like a parody of those obligatory Apple rollout videos with Jonathan Ive and Phil Schiller, right down to the accent of Melissa Gardner, who is playing the "explain how we managed to capture magic and sexy and then cram them into our technology product... all whilst being a subject-of-the-crown" role generally reserved for Ive.

The funniest moments early on (I couldn't get through the whole thing) are a couple of quick-cut to Gardner saying, "I want to be connected to the Internet all the time" and "I just wish I could rip my HD screen off the wall" in a way that almost seems out of context.

She comes off a bit unhinged, frankly. I could imagine cutting to Ive against his white backdrop at Apple, waiting a beat and then saying "Oh my. My my. Down. Girl."

The other funny bit is where a good chunk of the video is simply them pretending then didn't try to out-spec the iPad and give their tablet Flash, which is described as "add[ing] Adobe in" so as to give you an experience "exactly like the experience you have at home."

"That's the magic." Ms. Gardner tells us. Flash is magic?

But, kudos anyway... could be a good product and I'll be interested to see what "Android designed for a tablet" looks and feels like. And then there's perhaps the key question -- price. My understanding is that's it's going to have a Verizon contract with it, which might be OK if the purchase price is subsidized, but will remain a disadvantage if it's priced close to the iPad.