The long-awaited LTE upgrade to Motorola Mobility's (NYSE:MMI) Xoom tablet is finally available for existing Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) tablet owners beginning today. In addition, Verizon Wireless is putting the Motorola Xoom 4G LTE on sale beginning Oct. 13, selling the device for $500 with a two-year contract.
Xoom customers have been waiting for some time for the LTE upgrade. Verizon first announced that the Xoom would be upgraded to LTE at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, and then provided more details in February. The upgrade was supposed to occur sometime in the second quarter. Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha in April said the upgrade's delay was due to software performance issues. Motorola also delayed the launch of its first LTE smartphone for Verizon, the Droid Bionic. In July, Motorola announced the upgrade would happen in September.
Beginning today, Motorola Xoom customers can visit www.verizonwireless.com/Xoom4GLTEupgrade for complete instructions and to begin the 4G LTE upgrade process. Customers will have to ship the device to Motorola to receive the upgrade and will get their tablets back within six business days. While Verizon has said that no data will be deleted, the carrier urged Xoom users to back up their data before sending the tablet to Motorola. Customers can keep their existing 3G data plans after the upgrade.
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