One Laptop Per Child's (OLPC) XO tablet will launch exclusively at Walmart on July 16. The hybrid notebook / tablet is further expected to debut at many top retailers in the US, Europe and in North and South America soon afterwards according to a recent posting on the company's blog.
The launch date came as part of a bigger post to respond to what the company called recently posted inaccuracies. Specifically, OLPC wanted to address concerns that the company was "falling apart" due to some recent management changes and the loss of key employees. These moves were explained away as being necessary adjustments in the composition of the OLPC team as some engineers and programmers that specialized in the hardware design were no longer required.
The kid-friendly tablet first debuted last August and was described as a huge leap forward in what the organization can offer. At the time, we were told the XO tablet would ship with a 7.5-inch optical multi-touch display and would be powered by Marvell's ARMADA 2128, a low-power 40-nanometer application processor.
The XO tablet was originally supposed to arrive in Q1 2013 but as we can see, that didn't happen. Announcing a solid release date that is just around the corner, however, likely means we will actually see the tablet drop this time.
Whether or not it becomes a huge player in the tablet market depends on a lot of different metrics, price included. Odds are, it won't overthrow slates like the Nexus 7 or Kindle Fire on the low end but it could easily become a hit among young children.