Sony to Offer S1 Tablet for Pre-Order in September in UK

It looks like the Sony S1 tablet may be going on sale this fall and Sony UK may be offering the company’s debut Android tablet for pre-order as early as September. At this time, the September date is for the UK and no information is known about U.S. availability. The leaked documents align with the previously speculated September launch date for Europe.

According to This is my next, which had obtained leaked documents from Sony Centre stores in the UK, it appears that Sony may be following Apple’s retail strategy in the UK. The meme that was obtained indicates that Sony Centre stores may be getting priority for selling the tablet, and employees at those stores would get thorough training as the preferred retailer for the S1 tablet so that they would be able to communicate the device and its features to customers, perhaps at a more knowledgeable level on average than at other retailers.

Given that its hard to differentiate Android Honeycomb tablets these days with the massive onslaught of devices available on the marketplace covering various price levels, the strategy may be beneficial to Sony, which could benefit through its specialized stores that other tablet-makers, like Asus and Acer, do not have.

Additionally, while the S1 tablet will run the Honeycomb operating system, the device will be ‘a themed and skinned’ experience, meaning that we can expect some Sony customizations to differentiate its tablet from competitors.

In addition to the S1 tablet, Sony is also expected to introduce a dual-screen S2 tablet.