CrunchPad 'joojoo' is $499, For Sale on Friday
Michael Arrington's dream to create a low cost touch screen tablet for surfing from the couch turns into the $499 web tablet named joojoo.
Last week Michael Arrington announced the death of the CrunchPad. Arrington said the device was killed by "greed and jealousy" as he explained that, just three days before the launch date, the CEO of their partner on the project said his company would be launching the CrunchPad alone, without the TechCrunch crew. A few days later Chandra Rathakrishnan's people said the Chief Executive would address these claims at a demo on Monday.
As promised, Chandra showed off the web tablet yesterday and during the demonstration, also gave his side of the story with regard to who betrayed whom.
Chandra explained his side of events and said when it came to cutting Michael Arrington and the TechCrunch guys out of the project, it was all because of broken promises. According to the L.A. Times:
Michael made many promises suggesting he will deliver on hardware, software and funding, none of which came true. We had to move on. [Fusion Garage] did the hardware. We had made the software. And we had secured the funding. Michael did not deliver on his promises, and we decided to move on our own.
As for the product, it looks quite impressive until you hear how much they're charging for it. With a 12.1-inch capacitive touchscreen and, according to Slashgear, a microphone, headphone and power port, and memory card slot, the joojoo slate looks very sleek. Throw in a boot time of just 9 seconds and it's the casual couch-surfer's dream machine. Unfortunately the price of $499 for a touch screen tablet with only WiFi in terms of connectivity (no 3G here) seems a little pricey.
The joojoo site has the device as "premiering at midnight PST, Friday 11th, December 2009," but SG reports that the first delivers won't ship for another 8-10 weeks.
Who's wants one?
*Image credit: CNet
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trying to resist urge to compare it against the future apple product.
coughcheaperbettercough
I don't know...I see lawsuits flying between these to guys. Not sure I want to spend $500.00 on a company that seems unstable at the moment.
$500 isn't that bad for this device. Considering a netbook without a touchscreen is $200-$300, and touchscreens are a bit expensive, that price seems pretty fair. After all, an iPod touch costs $200 and has a much smaller touch screen.
I personally couldn't justify spending $500 on new tech that may have unauthorized IP - rendering the device useless after all the lawsuits are settled.
I think the price kills it. You can have a netbook for that price that is faster and has more features. I know their target audience is different, but, again, the price is the killer. I could see this technology taking off at the 250-350 price point. Essentially it is a glorified eReader.
More importantly, what natural history museum is the guy in the picture on loan from? He's moved on from rubbing two sticks straight to pc tablets?
More importantly, what natural history museum is the guy in the picture on loan from? He's moved on from rubbing two sticks straight to pc tablets?
lol
More importantly, what natural history museum is the guy in the picture on loan from? He's moved on from rubbing two sticks straight to pc tablets?
sry for double post:
"So easy, a caveman could do it" - Geico
More importantly, what natural history museum is the guy in the picture on loan from? He's moved on from rubbing two sticks straight to pc tablets?
lol, The lovechild of Dr. Suresh from "Heroes" and a Geico cavewoman unveil an overpriced netbook that doesn't close.
Regardless of the excuses Chandra is giving, the product still legally belongs to Michael and this is theft.
Do you have facts to back this up, or just Michael's statment?
Do you have facts to back this up, or just Michael's statment?
facts or not, we know a legal battle is coming, as the whole situation reeks of questionable practices
Add 3G voice/data and Bluetooth and I'd snag one of these on a heartbeat. Especially if it can be recognized as a removable drive and doesn't require proprietary iSoftware and mandatory purchases from an iTailer.
Just what I need, another LCD screen thingie lying around taking up what little footprint space I have left. NOT!
"Michael made many promises suggesting he will deliver on hardware, software and funding, none of which came true."
What exactly did Fusion Garage plan to bring into this partnership?
Seems a little more expensive that would have thought. The launch will probably be impeded by legal action anyway, but we'll see.
499 is too expensive.. It doesn't have any input device other than a touchscreen, and perhaps compared to netbooks does not have as many port possibilities (eg: usb ports, VGA, audio?, LAN, or other ports often associated with laptops or netbooks.
The price would only be reasonable if the device had a pretty long battery life (which we estimate it does NOT have), and has a Core2Duo processor,Athlon X2, or faster CPU,and 2 or 4 GB RAM, which it probably will not have.
What OS does it run?
Is the screen wacom enabled? If it is, I will want one.
Is this running win 7 or what?
$500 isn't that bad for this device. Considering a netbook without a touchscreen is $200-$300, and touchscreens are a bit expensive, that price seems pretty fair. After all, an iPod touch costs $200 and has a much smaller touch screen.
Agreed. Not sure why Jane is being so hard on it. Who cares about 3G? Besides, if it has USB ports then you can add 3G.
They should have partnered with Geico. They would already have a lead actor for the commercials as well as a slogan.
dang it, and i dropped 1k on a touch enabled acer aspire....
i would rather have saved the 500 dollars, and i will bet that that thing would have better battery life due to my acer running with a 4570 and c2ds....
lol @ caveman remarks
poor guy
$500 to surf the web ?
and you people think that's a good price ?
what am I missing here ?
Is that dude in the picture a Geico Cavemen?
Seriously... what is the utility of such of device...? I see no point of ever owning something like that.
whats with everyone wanting 3g? it just means you have to buy some subscription on top of the internet connection you already have. as far as im concerned wifi is better.
trying to resist urge to compare it against the future apple product.coughcheaperbettercough
Please, do compare. Show us the spec. Give us the price.
Thank you all for the caveman comments. It makes me happy to know that I am not the only one with a sick sense of humor. That photo was the very first thing I saw and "holy shit!...it's a motherfuckin' caveman!" was the first thought.
"Encino Man" was my second thought.
"I really hate pauly shore" was my third.
After that I drank and everything is right with the world.
Agreed. Not sure why Jane is being so hard on it. Who cares about 3G? Besides, if it has USB ports then you can add 3G.
No where in the article does it say it has USB.
He looks like a caveman holding up a piece of slate with his cave-drawings.
Regarding the caveman comments: nice to see all the racist idiots are here too. You people suck. Why not just call him a monkey too, while you're at it?