Motorola Mobility has launched a major retail push for its Xoom tablet in Europe.
Deutsche Telekom and retailers Carphone Warehouse, Best Buy, Currys and PC World will begin selling the Android-based tablet in the second quarter of this year. Motorola did not provide details about pricing, service plans or specific launch dates for the device.
Carphone and Best Buy will sell a 3G/Wi-Fi version of the tablet in the U.K., and Currys and PC World will sell a Wi-Fi-only version to U.K. consumers.
Deutsche Telekom will offer the Xoom in “selected” markets throughout Europe, but did not specify which countries will get the tablet or whether it will sell the Wi-Fi-only version or the 3G version of the Xoom.
“We’re excited to be bringing a device as powerful as Motorola Xoom to leading carriers and partners in the U.K.,” said Andrew Morley, vice president of marketing for Motorola Mobility’s international markets, in a statement. “Today’s announcement is testament to how well Motorola Xoom has been received by consumers and carriers alike.”
The Xoom runs on Android 3.0 Honeycomb and is equipped with a 10.1-inch display, front- and rear-facing cameras, a dual-core 1GHz processor, and has a built-in gyroscope, barometer, e-compass, accelerometer and adaptive lighting. The tablet was first announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, and will be carried by Verizon Wireless in the United States.
Neither Motorola nor Verizon have released official pricing details for the Xoom, but Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha told Reuters yesterday that an unsubsidized version speculated to run on Verizon’s LTE network would cost about $800, with a Wi-Fi-only version costing $600.