Verizon pairs Cisco Cius business tablet with 4G LTE

Cisco's Cius Android tablet still hasn't actually made it to market – last we heard, July 31 was the big day – but already the enterprise-friendly company is talking about alternative versions. Latest to get the nod is a Verizon 4G model that will use the carrier's LTE network, though bizarrely it won't do so via an integrated 4G modem. Instead, business users wanting their share of LTE speeds will have to carry a separate mobile hotspot with them too.

That makes it pretty much the same as any WiFi-enabled tablet: you could easily pair an iPad 2 or BlackBerry PlayBook with a Verizon hotspot (or, indeed, the hotspot feature found on many smartphones) and get online at 4G speeds. This seems to be more of an enterprise and commercial announcement for the carrier, flagging up that they too will be offering the slate, not just AT&T.

Pricing for the Verizon model isn't clear, though earlier reports suggested a roughly $700 to $750 tag. That may sound like a lot for a 7-inch slate in comparison to the Apple tablet or, indeed, any of the various Android-based models around today, but then again it does come with some business-centric functionality like voice, video, collaboration and virtualization capabilities.

[via Android Community]