If you’re thinking of looking more into this Motorola Xoom Android Honeycomb tablet, but paying $800 isn’t exactly your kind of thing, then you’ve just come to the right place because New York-based retailer B&H has just listed the much anticipated wifi-only Motorola XOOM version online, and it allows people pre-order theirs today for only $599. And while shipping dates are yet to be determined, the number of units offered for sale is said to be very limited. We’re guessing that a “1st week of April” time frame was just made for the fools, eh?
Update1: It looks like B&H isn’t the only one to sell the Motorola Xoom sans 3G connectivity for the bargain price of $599. As a matter of fact a few other giant retailers including Amazon, Best Buy, Costco, RadioShack, Sam’s Club, Staples, and even Walmart are said to be offering the Honeycomb tablet, starting March 27th of this year, and not a single day before. Full PR after the break.
Update2: And the WiFi-only Motorola Xoom is finally up for preorder from both Best Buy and Future Shop in Canada, and set to ship on April 8th, with the same US price tag ($599.99).
Update3: Word on the street is that the 10.1-inch WiFi-only Xoom tablet should be getting Google’s latest and greatest Android 3.1 update “within the next several weeks.” In that regard, we’re guessing that the upcoming upgrade will not skip the 3G-enabled devices, which are more expensive, to say the least. More details at the official Motorola support forum.
[B&H]
Motorola Mobility Brings MOTOROLA XOOM™ Wi-Fi to United States
Innovative new tablet experience to be available from more than seven leading retailers nationwide
LIBERTYVILLE, Ill., March 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: MMI), today announced the upcoming availability of MOTOROLA XOOM™ Wi-Fi edition from leading retailers across the United States starting March 27. Amazon.com, Best Buy, Costco, RadioShack, Sam’s Club (select locations), Staples and Walmart will be offering the 10.1-inch widescreen HD tablet with Android™ 3.0 (Honeycomb) through both online and retail store channels. The MSRP for MOTOROLA XOOM Wi-Fi with 32 GB of memory will be $599.
“MOTOROLA XOOM is a truly innovative tablet – its design, coupled with being the first tablet to have Android 3.0, results in a user experience that is one-of-a-kind,” said Dan Papalia, vice president of retail sales for Motorola Mobility. “We are now continuing to expand the choices available to consumers with the MOTOROLA XOOM Wi-Fi to be available soon from numerous leading retailers in the United States.”
In addition, the MOTOROLA XOOM Wi-Fi will be available to commercial IT channels and regional retailers through a distribution agreement with Synnex Corporation, and regional carriers through Brightpoint, Inc.
MOTOROLA XOOM showcases the innovations of the Honeycomb user experience – including widgets, true multi-tasking, browsing, notifications and customization – on a 10.1-inch widescreen HD display, enabling video content that’s richer and clearer than ever before. With a 1GHz dual-core processor and 1 GB of RAM, MOTOROLA XOOM delivers exceptionally fast web-browsing performance. The latest Google Mobile services include Google Maps 5.0™ with 3D interaction and access to more than 3 million Google eBooks and apps from Android Market™. MOTOROLA XOOM also supports a Beta of Adobe® Flash® Player 10.2 downloadable from Android Market, enabling the delivery of rich Flash based web content including videos, casual games and rich Internet applications.
As the first device running Android 3.0, MOTOROLA XOOM benefits from our aggressive work with developers across the ecosystem through MOTODEV, Motorola’s developer support program to enable world-class tablet and smartphone experiences. These devices will be able to access more than 150,000 applications within the Android Market as well as the rapidly increasing number of applications optimized directly for the Android 3.0 OS. In addition, thousands of Flash-based web applications and sites will become available for the MOTOROLA XOOM.
As a part of the company’s commitment and leadership — along with Google’s — to the Android ecosystem, Motorola announced a series of global developer events in 11 cities across North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia. These MOTODEV events give developers access to tools, support and Motorola’s team of Android experts. The first of these events was hosted in San Francisco on March 1 and had more than 665 developers in attendance.
MOTODEV also recently announced a new testing and certification program for Honeycomb applications, encouraging developers to submit their applications to get early feedback and support on MOTOROLA XOOM performance. This is a part of the company’s ongoing commitment to supporting the ecosystem in delivering high quality experiences to the consumer.
More information about MOTODEV tools, resources and events can be found at http://developer.motorola.com.
About Motorola Mobility
Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: MMI) fuses innovative technology with human insights to create experiences that simplify, connect and enrich people’s lives. Our portfolio includes converged mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets; wireless accessories; end-to-end video and data delivery; and management solutions, including set-tops and data-access devices. For more information, visit motorola.com/mobility.
MOTOROLA and the Stylized M Logo are registered trademarks of Motorola Trademark Holdings, LLC. Android, Google, Google Mobile and Google Maps are trademarks of Google Inc. All other product and service names are the property of their respective owners. © 2011 Motorola Mobility, Inc.
Cant wait to get my hands on the Xoom. Don’t really see the need to pre-order unless it will arrive on the 27th. There are so many different retailers that will be selling them its not likely that they will all sell out on the first day. I will be at the doorstep of one of these retailers, not waiting for the mailman.