The Crunchpad project has collapsed due to a critical business issue between the two partners controlling the project.
In a post this afternoon, just weeks after I picked up on the comments by Mike Arrington in the Gilmor Gang videocast, Mike Arrington explains how he and Fusion Garage, the partner company in the project have failed to reach an agreement on terms. There’s no statement from the Fusion Garage yet.
It’s a sad way to end a project that has been #1 on UMPCPortal for so long. The Crunchpad was the most viewed product for a long time. It was even the most anticipated product in a poll we ran. Maybe there’s a chance that the project will re-ignite but judging by the tone of Mike’s post, it sounds like he’s given up. I wonder if this issue was just the straw that broke the camels back?
Crunchpad popularity graph. (Updated daily)
I hadn’t expected the Crunchpad to be a huge success but I was keen to see if my predictions were correct. Was it a Menlow-based device? How much battery life were they getting on the 12” screen. What was the weight? At least we can see that it was a 28.1Wh battery: (That’s about 4-hours worth of Wifi-connected usage with the best Menlow platforms and engineering.) Note the fan too. (Not a good sign for a consumer pad.)
Ironically, it was a basic tablet computer that came along to move it from the top spot on the UMPCPortal charts so there are options out there now for those interested in these sort of device. The Archos 9 is coming at $550, the EviGroup Pad at about 450 Euros and a very interesting ARM/Android-powered 7” pad from WITS. The A81 at about $250. (We’ll have some hands-on with that in the next few days.) There are other devices available too. I’m loving the web/media focused Archos 5 IT and the X70 is probably my UMPC of the year. Click on the images below for more information.
We’ll double our efforts to get hold of the EviGroup pad and Archos 9 for you ASAP. Stay tuned. In the meantime, 10 seconds silence for the Crunchpad please………………………..
November 30th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
New article: Crunchpad Project Collapses on Partner Disagreement. http://bit.ly/83o0gl
November 30th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
RT @chippy: New article: Crunchpad Project Collapses on Partner Disagreement. http://bit.ly/83o0gl
November 30th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
At least we know now what it means “steamrolling along”
November 30th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
GShared: Crunchpad Project Collapses on Partner Disagreement.: The Crunchpad project has collapsed due .. http://bit.ly/4pPgc0
November 30th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
I can’t say I’m surprised. There was no news on the crunchpad for the longest time after the prototype was shown that it was pretty obvious something was up.
December 1st, 2009 at 2:25 am
good, i got tired of it taking a spot in the top 5 list. the x70 keeps getting booted down by devices which havent even left the drawing board… its irritating
pouncep Reply:
December 1st, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Agreed. I’m a proud owner of an X70 and have to say as of now it is the most well rounded slate available. There’s something I don’t understand though, assuming these guys had venture capitalists to back them up, how was their business plan drawn? What did they propose to the investors to show that this will be a successful product? If it’s so easy for both partners to back out of the project, there must not have been much investment nor a rigorous business plan. We’ve all just been scammed by people who have no idea what they’re doing…I feel delighted this product failed at this point, otherwise it would stop the further development of similar devices in this field.
December 1st, 2009 at 3:03 am
I think the Vega tablets, once they actually run Android and not WinCE, are the more likely inheritors of the CrunchPad market. The 11″ one is almost the size that the CrunchPad was going to be… and between that and the 7″ and 15″ versions, every potential CrunchPad fan should probably be taken care of.
The only question is: will it have a desktop quality browser on it (Chrome, Firefox-for-Android, etc.)?
December 1st, 2009 at 8:45 am
I am not surprised. I feel sad cause i love the device and the idea behind.
December 1st, 2009 at 12:43 pm
It would have only made sense with Chrome OS running it. Since both the hardware and OS revolve around the internet and cloud computing.
December 2nd, 2009 at 8:35 pm
R.I.P. Crunchpad…I hardly knew ye http://bit.ly/4DBzIv