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?
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*Image credit: CNet
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Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.
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08nwsula trying to resist urge to compare it against the future apple product.Reply
coughcheaperbettercough -
sunflier 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.Reply -
kri77777 $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.Reply -
tsnorquist 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.Reply -
Socnom 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.Reply -
ryanjm 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?Reply -
gwolfman ryanjmMore 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?lolReply -
gwolfman ryanjmMore 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:Reply
"So easy, a caveman could do it" - Geico -
soo-nah-mee ryanjmMore 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.Reply -
erikstarcher NegativeXRegardless of the excuses Chandra is giving, the product still legally belongs to Michael and this is theft.Reply
Do you have facts to back this up, or just Michael's statment?