The wait is nearly over, Android fans. The WiFi-only flavor of the Xoom is set to hit a bunch of retailers in just over two weeks on March 27th. Amazon, Best Buy, Costco, RadioShack, Staples, Walmart, and select Sam’s Club locations should all offer the tablet both in stores and through their respective online services.
The WiFi-only flavor packs everything found in the 3G counterpart besides the obvious missing cellular modem. The dual cameras, the 32GB storage, 10.1-inch screen, and tasty Honeycomb OS remain. This is the model that the Android crowd has very loudly stated online can stand up to an iPad 2. But did it hit too late?
Big name WiFi-only Android tablets have been pretty much been non-existent until now. Several models from Viewsonic and Archos dropped in 2010, but all the big boys (namely Samsung and Motorola) plowed forward with just expensive 3G models. The Xoom WiFi might change the course of the war.
Price alone isn’t the only thing helping Motorola. The Xoom WiFi is hitting seven major retailers at the same time, of which only three are currently selling the iPad 2. This wider distribution model will of course help with sales, but more importantly, with brand awareness. The Motorola Xoom might just be the tablet equivalent of the Motorola Droid and jump start the whole movement. Flash would help too.