AT&T Plans to Sell Motorola’s iPad Competitor the Xoom
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AT&T’s long standing partnership with Apple took its first blow a few weeks back when Verizon announced that they would start selling the iPhone 4 here in the US. While most countries have multiple carriers selling the iconic Apple product, here in the US, consumers could get the iPhone only with AT&T’s network due to a long standing exclusivity agreement between the two companies.
AT&T’s iPhone exclusivity was something that helped the company attract millions of customers to its network and the carrier was very focused on selling and promoting Apple devices as a key differentiator against their competitors. Now that the exclusivity is gone, AT&T is beginning to actively push Android based handsets and tablets like the Motorola Xoom.
All Things Digital reports that David Christopher, AT&T’s Chief Marketing Officer, announced that the company would begin selling Motorola’s upcoming Xoom tablet. The Xoom has received a lot of press recently as the first tablet to run Google’s new Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) OS which is optimized for tablets. Many believe the Xoom could be the first credible threat to the iPad once it goes on sale later this month for $799.99.
The Xoom will initially be available only on Verzion’s CDMA network, AT&T’s largest competitor, but Christopher says that AT&T will also carry the device later this year as part of push to get more Android based smartphones and tablets on their network.
While having a second carrier in the US for the iPad and iPhone is great for consumers, it’s forcing AT&T to more aggressively embrace other mobile OS platforms such as those from Android, RIM and Microsoft. It will be interesting to see if the sales upside from having two carriers will be offset by the introduction of more competing tablets and smartphones on AT&T’s network.
