Fusion Garage, the company embroiled in a bitter dispute with TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington, this morning unveiled its Joo Joo wireless touch-screen tablet.
Tablet formerly known as the Crunchpad. The tablet features a 12.1-inch capacitive touch screen display; the Joo Joo runs a Unix operating system and boots directly into a Web browser in under 10 seconds—no other applications are available on the device, although of course users will be able to run Web-based applications. The device connects to the Internet via Wi-Fi—no mobile data service is available—and the device features a 4 GB SSD for storage, microphone and headphone jacks, as well as microSD storage. The device weighs about 2.4 pounds and promises 5 hours of use on a single battery charge.
JooJoo CrunchPad
Contradicting former partner Michael Arrington’s assertions that the CrunchPad-turned-JooJoo was the TechCrunch editor’s idea, Rathakrishnan began the webcast by downplaying Arrington’s role in the project, emphasizing that TechCrunch repeatedly failed to deliver. Arrington last week came forward with a story of the CrunchPad’s demise, fraught with greed and betrayal.
The CrunchPad, which we’ve been hearing about for a year and a half, was Mr. Arrington’s pet project. The idea: a touch-screen tablet that connects to the Internet, nothing more, for very simple Web browsing. Unlike the netbooks on the market, it would not run other programs or applications.
The device will cost $499 and the company will start taking orders soon. They should ship 8-10 weeks from order time. The JooJoo Internet tablet will be available for sale online beginning December 11, 2009.