The life and death of CrunchPad. (07/21/2008-11/30/2009)

Bad news everyone, today, Arrington officially killed the CrunchPad.

So I decided to throw up a memorial page for this fine product. I'm a little busy with the Style Guidance site, but once I have some free time, I'll migrate everything over to the actual crunchpad.com domain. Also if you have some info/milestones to add, email me at info@styleguidance.com

CrunchPad Timeline:

07/21/2008 - Arrington posts "We want a dead simple web tablet for $200, help us build it." The CrunchPad name is suggested in the comments by an Adam Helweh. I agree that it's the best name out of all the suggestions, and go see if it's registered, it's not, so I grab the domain, just in case. Like I mentioned on Hacker News, I was never planning on holding the thing hostage, I just grabbed it, before anyone else did. Interestingly enough, I was never contacted by anyone asking about the domain.

Original Concept Rendering:

08/30/2008 - Arrington posts photos of the first prototype, that barely booted.

01/19/2009 - Arrington posts photos of prototype B. This is also the first time Techcrunch starts calling the thing CrunchPad.

04/09/2009 - Arrington "leaks" the pics on his posterious blog, which then gets taken down. But Gizmodo managed to grab them before he did, so on 04/10/2009 Arrington posts about it on Techcrunch

06/16/2009 - Arrington posts the renderings of the launch protoype..

06/16/2009 - The CEO of Fusion Garage, gets talked into unboxing the latest CrunchPad prototype. Video gets captured and posted on Youtube. Arrington is pissed.

07/04/2009 - Peter Ha of crunchgear, tells us that there'll be a CrunchPad event in early August, and that the CrunchPad was set to retail for $300

07/30/2009 - Engadget tells us that Crunchpad will be here in November with 3G connectivity. With the price tag of $400.

08/05/2009 - Best Buy chief marketing officer raves about the CrunchPad prototype.(probably means that Best Buy was the big partner that offered to sell the CrunchPads at no cost.)

09/26/2009 - Jason Biggs(editor in chief of CrunchGear) says that the delay is due to bugs.

10/07/2009 - Popular Mechanics names CrunchPad their Top 10 Most Brilliant Products of 2009. On the awards day, the Techcrunch team was absent from the awards ceremony.

11/15/2009 - On Gillmore Gang Arrington says the following: "The CrunchPad is great actually. It’s actually steam rolling along, everything is good. That stuff about costing was too high, I don’t know where it came from. Actually costs keep coming down. We’ve been working entirely on the software for the last month trying to make it perfect to get it to market. Should be good news on that shortly.", he also says that the CrunchPad will run $300-400. He also mentions that CrunchPad will have extra revenue via a search bar.

11/17/2009 - TechCrunch gets a trademark for the term "CRUNCHPAD". View trademark entry.

And just 2 weeks later.

11/30/2009 - Arrington announces the death of CrunchPad. Accoring to Arrington, the entire thing was set to launch on November 20th, but was killed by the greedy bastards at Fusion Garage, who decided to hijack the project.

The Afterlife

12/04/2009 - Arrington announces that litigation is imminent, also tells us that Fusion Garage deleted their corporate blog(you didn't miss much, the thing hasn't been updated since February[link to Google Cache].

12/07/2009 - Fusion Garage announces that they'll release the CrunchPad under the name JooJoo. It'll cost $499.99, will come with a 12" screen and will be available December 11th. See more info here. I'd hold off on buying it though, not only is it more expensive, but until the litigation is over, there is no sense paying for a product from a company that may not be around 6 months from now to honor the warranty.

12/11/2009 - Techcrunch federal lawsuit filed.. Fusion Garage is being sued for "Fraud and Deceit, Misappropriation of Business Ideas, Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Unfair Competition and Violations of the Lanham Act". Arrington also gives more details about the financial troubles of the Fusion Garage, and basically says that Fusion Garage doesn't even have the money to build the device, even after receiving the orders, that all that all the money will go to defend Fusion Garage in court. So basically anyone who buys the JooJoo is going to be waiting a long time to get their product

12/12/2009 - Fusion Garage releases the JooJoo. You can pre-order it now, but here are three extra reasons(besides the lawsuit) why I wouldn't: #1: The only way to pre-order is with PayPal, and since PayPal Buyer Protection only lasts 45 days, and the JooJoo says "Pre-orders will ship in 8 to 10 weeks." that means if they "forget" to ship, you are out of luck. #2: Every single image seems to be a rendering, not a single actual photo. #3: They only sell to United States, yet they only use kilograms for weights, talk about amateur hour.

12/18/2009 - Fusion Garage founder talks about Joo Joo on Mixergy. Good interview, with lots of good details. Andrew's interviews are always good, I'm a big fan, since I tend to watch every single one live(2PM EST M-F), I recommend watching all the interviews to anyone interested in startups, so if you want business tips, go check it out.

Final Question

Is the CrunchPad really dead? Honestly? I'd put my money on no. Arrington is way too "powerful", and did too much, to just roll over for a few bad apples. My guess, is that, at this very moment, his mailbox is exploding with tons of emails from Fusion Garage competitors, offering to finish the project for him.

And if they aren't...then their CEOs need to be kicked out.

Where else, will you find a partner, who has the connections to have a major retail chain(most likely Best Buy) who not only are willing to help you with shipping costs by letting you use their planes, but will also sell your product with zero margin and will pay upfront?

Where else, will you find a partner, who has the connections to get your people advice from the guys at Intel? And a huge discount on pricing?

Where else, will you find a partner, that already has investors lined up for the project?

Where else, will you find a partner, that already has brand recognition, with millions of people?

So if you are a CEO of a Fusion Garage competitor, get your head out of your ass, and email Arrington right now.

Alternatives:

There really aren't any real alternatives out right now. I mean...that was the whole point of the CrunchPad. Pretty much the only things that come close are:

Archos 5 Internet Media Tablet

This is basically the mini version of the CrunchPad. It has all the features and more, but the screen is only 4.8 inches. Price wise it's ~$200-400. (Amazon Link)

Asus Touch Netbook

This is also out of left field, but the screen is bigger. 8.9 inches. And you do get more bang for your buck. But the price reflects that ~$450-500. (Amazon Link)

SmartQ 7 Internet Tablet

Another tablet. Few downsides: small screen - only 7", and small HD Space, only 250 megs available(but you can add an SD card). Price is around ~$300

Anyways, those are basically your options right for now. At least until the more expensive options drop in the next 1-2 years. And hey...who knows, CrunchPad might get resurrected. I'm not counting them out, just yet.

P.S. Once again, if you know of any other milestones I missed, please email me at info@styleguidance.com

And if you need any style or fashion advice, or just need some help deciding what to wear, or what to buy, you can always use Style Guidance for that.

Hey, can't blame me for plugging my site, least I can do, after spending the time, putting all this information together.