TechCrunch Web tablet – a waste of time and money?
When I first heard about Michael Arrington and TechCrunch’s idea to develop and manufacture a low cost Web tablet, I was intrigued and quite keen on the idea. Certainly, I could see the appeal of having such a product on the market. But with laptops and notebooks getting cheaper by the day, is it all a little pointless?
In July, 2008, Michael Arrington, editor of technology blog TechCrunch, decided he knew exactly what the market needed: a low cost Web tablet that threw out everything apart from a Web browser. Unlike most of us, Arrington has the readership and contacts to make this more than just a pipe dream, and so set up a team to start working on the project.
The original aim was for a touchscreen Web tablet as slimline as a Macbook Air, which uses Linux and Firefox to offer a low-cost alternative to the expensive tablet computers currently on the market. The price being aimed for was $200, which when compared to the Dell Latitude XT at $2,500 seems like an absolute bargain.
Six months on and the project has moved on considerably. There’s now a prototype model up and running, it has a name, the CrunchPad, and the price point aimed for has risen to $300. The project has been taken forward under the stewardship of Louis Monier, the one-time founder of AltaVista who has also worked at eBay, Google, and Cuil.
The prototype device has a 12-inch screen, 1Gb of RAM, a 4Gb Flash drive, Wi-Fi, an accelerometer, and a camera. It runs on Ubuntu Linux and looks surprisingly good. The video below shows the prototype in action and everything looks neat, easy-to-use, and there’s no doubting it’s a nifty bit of kit.
With this article being so full of praise for the CrunchPad, why then does the title suggest I think the project is ultimately pointless? Because at $299, I personally would rather spend a little more money and buy an ultra-cheap laptop.
Laptops are becoming more popular by the day, and cheaper with it. As the market reaches saturation point and the recession continues, the prices of laptops are going to continue to drop. Why then would I spend $300 on a tablet which I can only surf the Web with when for a touch more money I could buy a laptop which allows me to do much more?
Having said all that, I do think there is a market for this product, with the Amazon Kindle proving how many people want a product which just does one thing, and does it well. I may not be a potential customer but if the TechCrunch Web tablet ever does come to market, I suspect there will be enough people willing to pay the asking price to make it a successful venture.
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