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………………………..

When we guessed the specs of the Crunchpad back in April we based it around what we thought was the best that could be achieved. It appears we may have got the pricing in the right ballpark but woah!, wait a minute, we’re now hearing that it will weigh a hefty 1.2kg. Take it from me, that is way too heavy for consumers. My Gigabyte Touchnote (similar specs to the Crunchpad) weighs the same and it’s not a device I use on the sofa or in the bed. Anything over 1KG is simply not comfortable.

Not only that but we’re now hearing that the Crunchpad will have 3G built-in. 3G? Why? This is supposedly targeted at the sofa or office desk. What Crunchpad customer isn’t going to have Wifi available at the sofa? 1.2kg makes it too heavy for toting around as a web reader too so why the high-speed data? A low-end 3G modem is going to cost $30-$50 to the parts cost. Again, Why?

The third shock of the article is the price. $399.

With specifications and potential price-creep like this, the Crunchpad isn’t going to get much in the way of praise when it launches. We’ve seen it many times before in the UMPC market and UMPCs still don’t sell in huge numbers today despite being available for under $500 now. In fact, I’ve got specs of a 10” Atom-based tablet in front of me right now that matches closely with the Crunchpad. In quantity it’s available for $320. Despite the excellent value I still don’t expect it to sell very well.

Having said all that, there’s every possibility that reporting mistakes have been made here especially considering the article title is ‘Worlds first tablet PC.’ The Crunchpad organisation knows what’s going on around them and they won’t be giving out too many finalised details at this stage.

Update: As we expected, the information is unauthorised. Mike Arington is mad too but he does like to get dramatic at times. It’s all part of the SEO show folks!

Source: Straitstimes. Via Slashgear.

All specs and details now in the Crunchpad product page.