If you happened to be watching the Super Bowl, you might recall that the Motorola Xoom was the next coming of flower power. It was the epitome of a humanity that would overcome the Big Brother nature of that identikit behemoth that is Apple.

It may well be that no one at Verizon got--or, perhaps, bought--the message.

For Verizon's view of the Xoom seems entirely in keeping with its strategy when it launched Droid.

This thing's for boys. It's for boys who get excited about GigaHertz. It's for boys who love them some "Vendetta."

If you are the sort of person who gets excited about a 3D graphics engine and a gyroscope, you will be rushing to your Verizon store to zoom off with your Xoom.

But if you're one of the homemakers, senior citizens, Hell's Angels, or project managers who simply loves your iPad and cannot wait for the iPad 2, you might pause to consider whether the Xoom might be, well, a little too high tech for you.

My accountant tells me he bought a Droid and had to take it back to the Verizon store because he simply couldn't work out how it, well, worked.

So it will be fascinating to see what will attract buyers to the Xoom. Will it be the sense that you're in a rocket ship Or will it be something more considered, more graceful, and more, well, sensitive

Some might wonder whether the tagline "Grab it and it Grabs you" offers the right kind of sensitivity.