Motorola XOOM heads to the UK via various retailers
Short of shoving it down everybody’s throats, Motorola seems to be making every effort to hawk its first ever Android tablet, the XOOM, in the United Kingdom. The company has tied up with various retailers to attain maximal sales and the usual suspects like Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy also figure in the list. Apart from the two, Motorola has also roped in PC World, Dixons and Curry, while another UK online retailer, Handtec, is already taking preorders for the device with a hefty price tag, which stands at £720 currently (we are assuming for the version with both 3G and WiFi). Best Buy and Carphone Warehouse will be privy to the 3G/WiFi variant of the XOOM, while PC World and Dixons will sell the WiFi-only device.
In the midst of the LG Optimus Pad, the HTC Flyer and many other tablets that surfaced at the MWC this week, the Motorola XOOM has remained relatively low key – it did get its fair share of adulation when it premiered originally at CES – but that doesn’t mean the device is in anyway crippled. It features a 10.1-inch touchscreen display, a 5mpx camera (with 1.3mpx secondary for video calling), a dual-core processor and Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system to top it all.
As with most other tablets and smartphones shown off during the Mobile World Congress, the Xoom is also scheduled for a Q2 release. The preorder price seems a bit steep right now, but with multiple players in place, this should see a decline (in the UK at the least) in the coming weeks.
