| Developer | Techcrunch/Fusion Garage |
|---|---|
| Type | Web Tablet |
| Release date | December 11, 2009 |
| Operating system | Linux |
| CPU | 1.6 GHz Intel Atom |
| Display | 12" LCD touchscreen |
| Input | Touchscreen |
| Connectivity | Internet |
| Dimensions | 18mm thick |
| Website | Official website |
The JooJoo is a Linux-based tablet PC designed for Web surfing. It was created as the CrunchPad, a project started by Michael Arrington, later partnering with Louis Monier, and then Singapore based design studio Fusion Garage. On November 30, 2009, Arrington reported that the CrunchPad project had ended due to disagreements between himself and the Fusion Garage team,[1] but on December 7, 2009, Fusion Garage CEO Chandra Rathakrishnan announced that the CrunchPad would be released by the company as the JooJoo, and that it would be available for pre-sale December 11, 2009 for $499 USD.[2] On December 10, 2009 Michael Arrington/Techcrunch filed a lawsuit against Fusion Garage in Federal court accusing them of fraud and deceit, misappropriation of business ideas, breach of fiduciary duty, unfair competitition, and violations of the Lanham Act.[3] [4]
The JooJoo is currently available for pre-order to US customers. Fusion Garage notes that "pre-orders will ship in 8 to 10 weeks."
Contents |
History
The CrunchPad project was started by Michael Arrington in July 2008, initially aiming for a US$200 tablet, and showed a first prototype (Prototype A) a month later.[5][6] Beginning 2009, working Prototype B was introduced by the Techcrunch team led by Louis Monier, based on a 12 inch LCD screen, a VIA Nano CPU, Ubuntu Linux and a custom Webkit-based browser. The device was rapidly-prototyped by Dynacept and a customized version of the Ubuntu distribution was compiled by FusionGarage.[7][8] After announcing Prototype B, there arose a desire for the tablet to come into production.[9] Louis Monier worked closely with Fusion Garage as the team's lead designer.
- April 9, 2009 - Prototype C is shown, looking very much like the original concept pictures.[10]. Michael Arrington wrote that the hardware, software and industrial design improvements seen in Prototype C were all driven by Fusion Garage. "... But one thing I’ve learned about hardware in the last year is that you need partners to actually make things happen, and the credit for what we saw today goes entirely to the Fusion Garage team.", he said.[11].
- June 3, 2009 - near-final industrial design[12]
- November 17, 2009 - Fusion Garage CEO Chandra Rathakrishnan emails Techcrunch, and informs them "out of the blue" that Fusion Garage's investors want to pull out of the partnership, and that they are under the impression that Techcrunch does not own rights to the project, but are simply helping advertise it.[3][13]
Initially in 2008, $200 was mentioned as the price-point goal. In the first half of 2009, $300 was mentioned as more likely. By the end of July 2009, news stories said the actual price when it would ship in November 2009 would be about $400, putting it in potential competition with netbooks and low-end laptops.[14][15]
The project generated some press and was mentioned in Washington Post[7] and other media.[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]
In July 2009 it was reported that Arrington founded a company of 14 employees around the tablet (Crunchpad Inc.) in Singapore,[27] and that there would be a public presentation of a finished product later in the month.[28]
By late September 2009, the lack of publicity on the CrunchPad led Dan Frommer of The Business Insider to ask, in an article headline, "Where's The CrunchPad?"[29] Apple and Microsoft were rumored to be working on new tablet computers, receiving more media coverage.[30]
In early October 2009, Popular Mechanics magazine recognized the CrunchPad with an award as one of the top 10 Most Brilliant Products of 2009, "the top 10 most brilliant gadgets, tools and toys that you can buy in 2009."[31] Other organizations questioned the appropriateness of the award as the CrunchPad was not available for purchase at publication time.[32][33][34]
On the November 12, 2009 Gillmor Gang podcast, Michael Arrington announced the product is "steamrolling along", that rumors of high prices are untrue, and that the product will probably retail for US$300–400, likely subsidised by features that are sponsored but won't impact negatively on the user experience (similar to Firefox's search bar).[35]
On November 30, 2009 Michael Arrington announced that the CrunchPad project was dead. Three days prior to the planned debut, Fusion Garage CEO Chandra Rathakrishnan had informed him Fusion Garage would be proceeding to sell the pad alone. Arrington claims the intellectual property shared between both companies, so the product could not proceed legally. He said his side "will almost certainly be filing multiple lawsuits against Fusion Garage, and possibly Chandra and his shareholders as individuals, shortly".[1]
On December 7, 2009 - Fusion Garage CEO Chandra Rathakrishnan announced that he is releasing what had been developed as the CrunchPad and which he is now calling the "JooJoo", and that it will be available for pre-sale December 11, 2009 for $499 USD.[2]
On December 10, 2009 Michael Arrington/Techcrunch filed a lawsuit against Fusion Garage in Federal court.[3] [4]
Open source design
In the founding July 21, 2008 manifesto "We Want A Dead Simple Web Tablet For $200. Help Us Build It."[5] Michael Arrington wrote:
-
- "So let’s design it, build a few and then open source the specs so anyone can create them."
- "If everything works well, we’d then open source the design and software and let anyone build one that wants to."
No further commitments have been made in 2009 about making the design open and public, which would make it easier to add additional features such as a standard keyboard connector and increased storage.
See also
References
- ^ a b http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/30/crunchpad-end/
- ^ a b Crunchpad reborn as JooJoo – by Rafe Needleman, news.cnet.com, December 7, 2009
- ^ a b c CrunchPad Federal Lawsuit Filed; Some Additional Thoughts – by Michael Arrington, techcrunch.com, December 11, 2009
- ^ a b TechCrunch files suit over CrunchPad – by Don Reisinger, news.cnet.com, December 11, 2009
- ^ a b http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/21/we-want-a-dead-simple-web-tablet-help-us-build-it/
- ^ http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/30/update-on-the-techcrunch-tablet-prototype-a/
- ^ a b http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/19/AR2009011900287.html
- ^ http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/19/techcrunch-tablet-update-prototype-b/
- ^ http://www.tomshardware.com/news/techcrunch-web-tablet-crunchpad,6858.html
- ^ http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/04/09/crunchtablet-hits-the-net-a-little-early/
- ^ http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/10/about-those-new-crunchpad-pictures/
- ^ http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/03/crunchpad-the-launch-prototype/
- ^ CrunchPad Litigation Imminent – by Michael Arrington, techcrunch.com, December 4, 2009
- ^ http://www.pcworld.com/article/169407/uh_oh_arringtons_crunchpad_isnt_cheap.html
- ^ http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2009/07/31/report:-arrington%2526%2523039%3Bs-crunchpad-ship-november-$400
- ^ http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20090119/bs_nf/64147
- ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2009/jan/19/crunchpad-webpad
- ^ http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/techcrunchs-internet-tablet-gets-a-new-protoype/
- ^ http://blogs.zdnet.com/mobile-gadgeteer/?p=1591
- ^ http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/01/19/143249
- ^ http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/01/19/crunchpad.tablet/
- ^ http://www.heise-online.co.uk/news/TechCrunch-s-prototype-CrunchPad-runs-Ubuntu--/112435
- ^ http://www.techmeme.com/090119/p6#a090119p6
- ^ http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/techcrunchs-arrington-creates-tablet-pc-prototype-20090119/
- ^ http://www.cio-today.com/news/Linux-Web-Tablet-Comes-to-Life/story.xhtml?story_id=103006RP778L
- ^ http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS6195992732.html
- ^ http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2009/07/06/story2.html?b=1246852800^1855381
- ^ CrunchPad prototype coming this month, be available ASAP
- ^ http://www.businessinsider.com/wheres-the-crunchpad-2009-9 Where's The CrunchPad? Dan Frommer, Sep. 21, 2009
- ^ Courier: First Details of Microsoft's Secret Tablet
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Magazine’s Product Of Year Doesn’t Actually Exist"
- ^ "Vaporware or Almost There? CrunchPad Wins Award"
- ^ "How soon will TechCrunch unveil the CrunchPad Tablet?"
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UuqQm4TFsM
External links
- The Joo Joo
- FusionGarage
- Hitler Finds out about CrunchPad / JooJoo
- Dynacept
- TechCrunch: About Those New CrunchPad Pictures (April 10, 2009)
- The Business Insider.com
- CrunchPad Fans
- CrunchPad News
- The End of the CrunchPad (November 30, 2009)
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
