Have you ever wanted an ultra-cheap Web tablet with very few features, but a simple design, and an iPhone-style touch screen? No, nor have I, but now that Michael Arrington at Techcrunch has mentioned it, I probably would like one, and especially at the low price point he is aiming for.

There are some fantastic tablet computers out there, with Arrington himself pointing us towards the Dell Latitude XT, which retails for around $2,500, and does pretty much everything you could want it to. But what is there for the less wealthy among us, who don’t necessarily want a tablet computer that does everything under the sun? At the moment, nothing, which is why Techcrunch has decided to build one for itself, and it wants your help.

What is being aimed for is a Macbook-Air thin touch screen device which uses Linux, and has Firefox, and maybe Skype on it. Other features could include headphone jacks, an in-built camera, some speakers and a microphone. Arrington also wants WiFi, a USB port, and a solid state hard drive. He wants it all open source, and he wants it to come in at below the $200 mark.

Pie in the sky? Probably, but it’ll be an interesting experiment to see what is capable when a bunch of like-minded tech bods come together. And that is exactly what Techcrunch wants, or in actual fact, needs. The project will start with a small group of people, to design the basics, and spec out the hardware. But then it’ll be over to us lot to fill in the blanks, and modify the design and software so that anyone can build one.

I can’t see the tablet hitting the $200 price mark, with $500 much more likely, but even at that price, it could sell incredibly well, filling a definite gap in the market. Okay, it’s a gap that I hadn’t noticed until now, but a gap none the less.

The project will be coordinated at TechcrunchIT, and it’s a concept which is already invoking opinions from those for and against. Others think Arrington should just stick to what he knows, which is blogging, but I have to take my hat off to him on this one – it’s a great idea, and one which could end with a new product being developed. That’s got to be good, right?

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Entry was posted on Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008 at 11:42 am under Opinion, Technology.

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