Monday, February 7, 2011

O2 UK says it's getting the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play (update: other UK carriers, April launch)

Now that the Xperia Play is finally official ahead of a full unveiling at MWC next week, carriers are ready to hop on the bandwagon -- or at least one is: O2 in the UK. Other than a brief tweet, no other details are given at this point, though the quick support of a major European carrier has to be good news for Sony Ericsson considering that device subsidies are no longer a sure thing... and without question, the Play represents something of a Hail Mary for one of the most badly bruised and beaten titans of the wireless industry. Pricing on contract is, of course, a huge open question -- as is North American support -- but hopefully all will be revealed on the 13th.

[Thanks, Ed]

Update: Pocket-lint says it can "exclusively confirm" that Vodafone will be getting the phone as well, suggesting that Sony Ericsson may not be pursuing exclusivity periods here -- at least, not in the UK.

Update 2: Pocket-lint is additionally reporting that Orange and T-Mobile UK (collectively known as Everything Everywhere) are signed up to get it in April, which would put it around the same time as the Xperia Arc. Still no word on what this might mean for North American launches.