Best Buy Whips Out Toshiba Thrive Inventory Ahead Of Schedule

Jordan Crook

Jordan Crook studied English Literature at New York University before entering the tech space. Prior to joining TechCrunch, Crook dabbled in mobile marketing and mobile apps as well as doing device reviews for MobileMarketer and MobileBurn. Crook is fascinated with alternative energy production and greentech. She is now a writer for CrunchGear. Hello → Learn More

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

When I sat down with Toshiba executives about a month ago, they promised that the Toshiba Thrive (once known as the Toshiba Tablet) would hit shelves in mid-July. So imagine my surprise when I found that the Thrive was already for sale at a Best Buy in Austin, TX. We’re not exactly sure why Best Buy gets a head start with the Thrive, but in any case, we’re glad to see Toshiba’s tablet venture make its way into the hands of consumers.

Originally, we had our money on a July 10 release, and we still think that other retailers will get the Thrive around that time. Reports suggest that the 16GB and 32GB versions are the only models currently available at Best Buy, for $479.99 and $579.99 respectively. We’re not sure why the little guy (8GB model) got left behind, but we’re way more curious to find out why Best Buy jumped the gun in the first place.

If you’re unfamiliar, the Android 3.1 Honeycomb-powered tablet sports a 10-inch LED backlit display with a resolution of 1280×800 pixels, an Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core 1GHz processor, and 1GB of RAM. If you’d like a full specs run-down, check out our hands-on impressions with the Toshiba Thrive.

[via Unwired View]

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