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CrunchPad Being Re-branded As JooJoo
adeelarshad82 writes to tell us that Fusion Garage seems to be ignoring the drama surrounding the "CrunchPad" and is planning to launch their "JooJoo" tablet this Friday at midnight. Unfortunately, the device will be a long way from the imagined $200 price point, weighing in at a hefty $499. "The JooJoo comes in black and has a capacitive touch screen, enough graphic power to deliver full high-definition video, offline capabilities, and a 4GB solid-state drive, though 'most of the storage is done in the cloud,' Rathakrishnan said. He promised 5 hours of battery life. In a demo during the webcast, the device powered on in about 10 seconds, and showed icons for web-based services like Twitter, Hulu, CNN, and Gmail, though the JooJoo will not come pre-loaded with any apps, Rathakrishnan said. Scroll through them with your finger as you would on the iPhone. In terms of the ownership drama, Rathakrishnan said that TechCrunch editor Arrington has created an 'incomplete and distorted story.'"
...though 'most of the storage is done in the cloud...
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
The technology would have to be extra special to make up for the price point and name. JooJoo? What were they thinking?
I don't see the pure tablet play working, not from JooJoo, not even from apple - it's always going to be a niche, and a small one.
The one way I can perhaps see it working is if you either build in a collapsible keyboard, or let them work with bluetooth keyboards and have some way to attach it making a kind of temporary laptop. There are just too many uses of a computer where the ability to type for long periods is needed, to get away without a real keyboard in a larger form factor. There are already netbooks with touch screens and that just seems way more practical.
JooJoo has issues outside the name though, the price point does not seem great for what it does.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
People who use the phrase "price point" instead of "price" need to be shot in the head.
The CrunchPad model only made sense at the low price: something inexpensive and universal.
But the low price never made sense. Apple doesn't make much money on the iPod touch, and they have all the huge economies of scale, and its still costs $200 for the 8 GB model. Add in a MUCH larger screen and bigger battery and of course the price will balloon.
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Unless Apple makes one, then a lot of folks will think $500 is just right.
Potato chips are a by-yourself food.
Big assumption. We basically have two no-names calling each other doodie-heads. Who knows who is right or wrong? If contracts were signed, then let them battle it out in court. Blog posts and PR releases have no legal weight.
After Apple abandoned me and tens of thousands of other Apple ][ and ][+ owners almost thirty years ago, I have no love for those crooks. But I could get an Ipod Touch with twice as much memory at half the price and several times the battery life. At the $250 price level, the larger screen would have been worth it; at $500, no way.
There may be a few fools who are easily parted from their money, but I predict this product is a flop. The trend is towards smaller and *smarter* devices, not towards further dumbing-down. The name "joo-joo" seems quite applicable, because monosyllabic nonsense names describe this product to a tee.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.