TechCrunch Tablet makes an early debut

http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/04/09/crunchtablet-hits-the-net-a-little-early/

by vaksel • 17 years ago

70 63 17 years ago

TweedHeads• 17 years ago

Goodbye Kindle, we barely knew ya

nanexcool• 17 years ago

They serve different purposes. Reading for extended periods of time on a device such as the Crunchpad, iPhone, LCD, etc., is torture.

ojilles• 17 years ago

Typing text messages on 9 keys and limited to 160 characters is torture as well. Did work well though.

This device probably hits a different sweetspot (more versatile I'd guess) than the Kindle.

david927• 17 years ago

But I can't imagine ever buying a Kindle, and I'll most certainly get this device. I'm already reading digital books on my PC or laptop, but I'd prefer to read it on this.

In other words, I don't think Kindle will die immediately, but its time is up.

jerf• 17 years ago

"Reading for extended periods of time on a device such as the Crunchpad, iPhone, LCD, etc., is torture."

Your sentence ended too early. You forgot the "for me".

I used to read Project Gutenberg ebooks on my Palm Pilot... the Palm Pilot 2. That's a monochrome (effectively) 160x160 screen. I was fine. There's a lot of us who don't mind so much.

(I know studies show reading speed drops, but I wonder if it might pick up again if you tested someone using a display like that long enough to get used to it. At any rate, I sure didn't feel slowed down, which is the important thing.)

I'd buy this over a Kindle in a heartbeat, though I'm still not going to give up my laptop keyboard so I'm not in the market at all. (But I'm even more not in the market for a Kindle.)

whacked_new3• 17 years ago

I don't understand why it had to be TC to create this device. Its usefulness is blatantly obvious; all Arrington did was list the specs and declare his intention to have it made.

To rephrase, why hasn't the industry been able to do this? They are the ones who have made this possible anyhow; it is not very innovative on a technical level; it is obviously a good idea. What took them so long?

smidwap2• 17 years ago

Your thoughts parallel mine. At the very least, if this idea is so brilliant, why can't a company like Dell or Apple begin mass-producing these little tikes? Even with patents and all that legal mumbo-jumbo, I'm sure they could find something to sell. Makes me wonder if this product really will sell, or if the biggies just lost out on an early opportunity.

rms• 17 years ago

>why can't a company like Dell or Apple begin mass-producing these little tikes?

If these tablets sell, they certainly will.

whacked_new3• 17 years ago

I was wondering if big companies were unable to produce these things cost effectively due to tie-ins and bundle deals or whatnot.

Oh, perhaps one thing is the requirement to fork a dev team to maintain a niche OS... methinks that's one of the biggest reasons?

there2• 17 years ago

> it is not very innovative on a technical level

seems like an ideal product for a y combinator startup!

jonknee2• 17 years ago

Takes more than $5k to make a device like this. Much more.

noonespecial• 17 years ago

Simple. Instead of our market research in the target demographics show that the average consumer wants... it was more like yaknow whatd be awesome!?.

dkokelley• 17 years ago

I wish more new product development was done this way. Sure there would be more losers and if the market is efficient they will die quickly but the winners will be truly terrific.

axod3• 17 years ago

>> "yaknow whatd be awesome!?"

Often a recipe for total disaster - making something that's technically impressive, rather than something that people actually want.

mkuhn• 17 years ago

IMHO this is what entrepreneurship is all about. You identify a need and then try to satisfy it... And Arrington had a good idea and he obviously managed to execute (probably) equally well... I just have to say, I'm impressed!

TomOfTTB• 17 years ago

I remember a quote that applies here but for the life of me I can't remember where I saw it. It was...

"Entrepreneurship is about believing something will sell even though every market measure says it won't and then implementing it even though every competitor says you'll fail"

tjogin2• 17 years ago

Who could have possibly made it? Dell? HP? These guys think in the line of "more features is better". The whole industry does.

Apple? They choose to not compete on the low-end market.

agotterer• 17 years ago

The big boys may choose not to compete on the low end market, but that doesn't mean the market doesn't exist. Should KIA have never started making cars because they assumed no one wanted a cheap, low end vehicle?

axod3• 17 years ago

>> "Its usefulness is blatantly obvious"

Please explain for me. I have an iPhone for portability, I have a laptop for semi portability. I have a mac mini for watching movies etc.

I can't think of how a tablet device like that would be useful. It's sort of too big and delicate to take traveling - nothing to protect the screen, so a laptop or netbook wins there.

The only use I can imagine is having it in the kitchen on the wall to look up recipes :/

Perhaps "the industry hasn't been able to do this" because there's not a proven market there. Further, there have been several tablet type laptops with flimsy swively screens, most of which seem total failures.

I can completely see geeks buying this. But that's a small market and one which I don't think you can make a lot of money from.

Also could the packaging be any more copied from Apple packaging?

fiaz2• 17 years ago

I can see my parents each buying one of these. I can see my siblings buying one of these for each of their kids.

I would never buy one of these because my tech needs, like yours, are a bit more "nuanced" depending upon my need at the moment.

Look at this as a "gateway" device for people that aren't as "hardcore" as you or I.

greendestiny• 17 years ago

Using the internet on the couch, in the kitchen, around the house, in the shed. Probably the biggest usage factors are that its always open and it has a big screen.

whacked_new3• 17 years ago

Basically a lightweight, handheld, kiosk computer. It is what Microsoft's Origami should have been.

Although now you bring it up, I don't know the biggest reason behind Origami's failure. Maybe I overestimate its usefulness. I can see Walmart and such taking a big interest though, for inventory control and also modified for in-store use. But you may be right.

As for the packaging, unless Apple is truly the one that started this kind of packaging (which I doubt, but could be wrong, but also wouldn't care), it doesn't strike me as an Apple rip. To me, they're all obnoxious... to hell with the "experience" :-P

zmonteca• 17 years ago

In undergrad we had an intel prototype version of this (can't remember the exact name). It pretty much ruled because it was ~1998 and nothing even close to it existed (i.e. small and lightweight laptops). We couldn't figure out why a market didn't exist for the product either. Apparently after a fully functional prototype, Intel couldn't find a market for it either. Still puzzles to me.

Then big issues in the device then were lack of flash and lack of power. They claim those have been resolved. We shall see.

Will a device like this become ubiquitous? I can see it finding a home in the kitchen, next to the bed or on the coffee table. The key here is making it lightweight and not delicate. I'm thinking something more in between a TOUGHBOOK and a MacBook. Something you can drop in the kitchen and throw on the couch and have the kids play with. Perhaps, with a aim of $200 that doesn't even matter.

froo3• 17 years ago

Please explain for me.

Well, my grandmother is technically inept, the concept of computers scare her - the keyboard, mouse, so many wires etc. It becomes a little overwhelming.

This sort of device would be something she could use to play games like solitaire, perhaps read emails from family (maybe sending them back depending on how easy it is to use) and generally, it would be more instinctual for her to touch the things she wants to navigate, rather than have to grab a mouse and direct it to click onto what she wants to look at.

It's a device for people who aren't like us. The odd thing is that it will be pushed by techcrunch - I hope they have a more direct to consumer marketing plan in mind than just advertising on techcrunch, as I think they'll really be missing out on it's real potential.

The technological device for people scared by technology

10ren4• 17 years ago

Also could the packaging be any more copied from Apple packaging?

Surely that's a plus, even though it's NIH.

keeptrying• 17 years ago

I find myself using the iphone while I'm in the house. Just because I dont want to lug my laptop around. The number of applications you could build for this.

Hang in next to your door.

1. Have it show your daily schedule, weather, errands as you walk out the door. You can add to the schedule and errands/todos from your iphone, computer at work etc. 2. Your gym routine for the day.

Keep it in your toilet.

* Browse the web/email while your on the toilet. * Have it play Pandora while your in the shower.

Keep it in the livign room.

* Instant TV guide.

Kitchen.

* Grocery list. * recpies

Essentially any application where you dont need telephony but you do want a big screen and a kiosk like interface. (Ie where a keyboard is needed minimally).

My mom, would love such a thing. Instant on would be really nice in something like this.

jodrellblank• 17 years ago

Its usefulness is blatantly obvious, it is obviously a good idea

Bleedin' isn't. (Obvious, I mean).

"like a laptop but less powerful", "a netbook without the keyboard", "an iPod touch with gigantism", "a PDA that doesn't fit in your pocket", "a kindle without the high DPI screen or long battery life", "an OLPC without the low price tag or cool features".

Full TabletPCs never took off. They are more expensive and have the restricted form factor. TC is betting that it's the higher cost that stopped them. I'm betting it's the restricted form factor and resultant limited usefulness.

I predict TC will only sell them to the sort of person who sees a tablet, or a chumby or a clocky or any other of a dozen terrible devices on TC and comments "OMG OMG I WANT ONE". That may yet be a big enough market, so I'm not going to predict out and out failure yet.

fiaz2• 17 years ago

Arrington/TC are relatively close to the center of the technology blogging world, and so they see a lot of information. I'm certain that if anybody was exposed to as much of this information as he is, then they'd see some obvious patterns of where the industries are heading. So to spot a trend and formulate a concept/idea for a product from that point of view might contribute a great deal to the inspiration for creating such a device.

The ability for a non-engineer to connect resources together to produce the device is a function of Moore's Law.

If TC is really worth as much as 24/7 Wall St. and others have speculated, then the marketing dollars are taken care of. Also, Arrington is well known and a highly resourceful individual.

smidwap2• 17 years ago

My ignorance will show here, but I would imagine engineering one of those devices is nothing trivial (duh), let alone something that a small company could afford. I wasn't even aware that TechCrunch developed consumer products. Can someone enlighten me on how a company such as TechCrunch can reasonably expect to design, develop, and sell (they have 2/3 of those down) a tablet (netbook) and profit? There are seemingly high barriers to entry in such a market, are there not? Just curious!

luckystrike• 17 years ago

Just in case you are not aware about it, here is how this 'venture' started:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/21/we-want-a-dead-simple-w...

Updates:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/30/update-on-the-techcrunc...

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/19/techcrunch-tablet-updat...

akd• 17 years ago

They use a company called an ODM (Original Design Manufacturer). These companies can, for different prices, do everything from design a tablet PC off a single phone call to simply building something exactly to your CAD drawings.

This is why all computers (Dells, HPs, etc, not sure what Apple does) are manufactured by a handful of companies (Solectron, Flextronics) which actually run the Chinese factories.

c3o• 17 years ago

This company does the software: http://www.fusiongarage.com/blog/

bodhi• 17 years ago

I'd really like to know how open it will be. Does anyone have any info?

swaroop• 17 years ago

Reminds me of Peek ( http://www.getpeek.com ) which is a dedicated email device.

Looks like one-functionality devices are making a comeback.

10ren4• 17 years ago

Tablets are a great idea. But when tried, they failed.

Specifically, what's different this time?

icey• 17 years ago

If it's only $200, I would say the price is the big difference.

10ren4• 17 years ago

Thanks. Tablets were comparable in price to laptops, and today's netbooks are around $200, so relative price hasn't changed... with respect to that particular competitive set.

But the absolute difference in price might make a difference with respect to other alternatives, especially non-computing ones. That is, new applications, new markets.

Are there any? Historically there's only one way to tell (try it).

TFrancis• 17 years ago

If it has/can use a pressure sensitive pen, it's the end of the road for Wacom tablets.

stcredzero• 17 years ago

I don't think so. Not all pressure sensitive touchscreens are created equal. Wacom pays particular attention to details, and there will always be a high-end market for quality tools. (Otherwise, Apple wouldn't still exist, much less the "high end" of Dell, HP, Toshiba, etc...)

In particular, artists can be quite finicky.

wallflower2• 17 years ago

I saw a Wacom Cintiq the other day in use. Wow. If you have $2k, it's better than pen and paper

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22i+love+my+wacom+...

socialtistics• 17 years ago

This is great and I am glad to see TechCrunch making great strides here.

In my view the problem with the tablet market has been a combination of high pricing and bad timing. The market for tablets now is increasing though and the benefits can be great. I think many of the naysayers here are thinking there is no way a tablet can replace a laptop or phone for various reasons, but I say that the market for a tablet is not directed at them. A tablet is not meant to be a replacement device, but instead a compliment to your current devices and/or a business tool. Here are some immediate benefits/uses I can think of:

1. Faster boot time (great for presentations, looking something up quick on the internet, inventory management systems, sales professionals) 2. Lightweight compared to laptops (remember cost is a factor here too) 3. No clunky equipment inside, making the lifespan a little longer 4. So the monitor sits wide open and may not be durable. This opens up a market for accessory companies to build durable covers. Both my Blackberry and iPhone have screens that came with no protection, but I was quick to buy covers for them both. 5. Can be mass produced for cheap. Take away experimentation costs and development costs, Arrington has said that the cost to produce will be $200 or less. This makes them accessible to everyone.

Before knocking tablets, you must remember that not everyone has a computer on 24x7x365 and easily accessible. Being able to easily check web-based email or surf the web is the entire point of this device. No boot-up, zero to minimal errors, no complex operating system to fight with, the list goes on.

access_denied• 17 years ago

Do I want to use Emacs with a pen?

TechCrunch Tablet makes an early debut

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