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Hi. My name is Dustin Curtis. http://dustincurtis.com

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Did Arrington actually pull off the CrunchPad WiFi tablet?

When he announced it a few months ago, I thought there was a slim chance that Arrington's CrunchPad would come to fruition. A $200 12" touchscreen with WiFi and Firefox seemed pretty difficult to imagine. Today, though, Arrington posted several pictures to his Posterous that seem to indicate it's very close to being in a shippable state. 

It's almost as though he predicted the Netbook market a couple months before it took off. Why would I buy a crappy Netbook when I could buy one of these? 

The packaging is incredibly beautiful and the device looks amazing. Who wants one? 

       


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Posted 10 months ago

42 comments

Apr 09, 2009
Clay Newton said...
I sooo hope that it's multitouch!
Apr 09, 2009
John McElhenney said...
This has to be a fake, right? Otherwise just send me the url and I'll open my CC account right away.
Apr 09, 2009
Hmmm said...
Noting more than a mockup, but the Ohio Art Company should sue for copying the Etch-A-Sketch design. Where are the white plastic knobs?
Apr 09, 2009
Akshay Dodeja said...
Nothing more then a mockup? You obviously haven't been following the development. Last them they wrote about it they had a working prototype. It was roughly the same form factor.
Apr 09, 2009
Garry Tan said...
I want to see it turned on and working!
Apr 09, 2009
Kevin Tu said...
Sir, my wallet is willing and waiting.
Apr 09, 2009
flannel said...
Can I install Windows 7 on this ?
Apr 09, 2009
mickerlodeon said...
The tablet is much further along then I expected it to be. I really hope that they can pull it off but I'm worried that when it is all said and done the device will be a bit of a dud.
Apr 09, 2009
John McElhenney said...
Obviously I have not... And will it run the Mac OS? In theory that is... http://twitterjoker.com
Apr 09, 2009
Paul Stamatiou said...
wow, he got it down to even the slick packaging? I am very impressed. sign me up!
Apr 09, 2009
Tommi said...
Wait!
Is there new information on this? the link is to an article from january.
Apr 09, 2009
Grymoire said...
Can I install Windows 7 on this ?

Unlikely. How will you press Control-Alt-Delete?

Apr 09, 2009
stwf said...
want
Apr 09, 2009
Mike Cane said...
I haven't kept up on this. But if this can run Adobe Reader and Adobe Digital Editions, it will be the biggest thing ever for eBooks. And I want one, too.
Apr 09, 2009
Steven Kovar said...
If I can take notes for class on this, I'm totally in. I was very skeptical initially—especially with the first pictures of their mock up devices. These look pretty slick though.
Apr 09, 2009
Paul said...
Does this run a real operating system or not?

Why the hell would I want a touchpad that can only run firefox when I could have a fully functional computer for the same price?

Who cares if it looks all sexy if it's not going to be functional.

Apr 09, 2009
jannko said...
Uber Battery life is King. So is the portability factor. Let's hope this has both.
Apr 09, 2009
linkages said...
When I saw the prototype, I wanted one. Now that it has a nice case, I really, really want one. I would pay as much as $300 for something like this.
Apr 09, 2009
jannko said...
...and hopefully the power supply brick is not as big at the unit itself.
Apr 09, 2009
linkages said...
Interesting. Looking more closely at the pictures, the display does not look to be a 4:3 ratio like Arrington wanted. I am starting to wonder if this is actually the crunchpad or something else.
Apr 09, 2009
LionelatDell said...
Will be interesting to see how this progresses.
Apr 09, 2009
Moriah Jovan said...
Has to read all the major currently available ebook formats and TXT at the very least. LIT & PDF preferably.
Apr 09, 2009
Browwwwn said...
Oh gawd I see a brown tablet, that means M$ invested heavily in this project.

If it is true, it will come with win7 only, if not it will come with Ubuntu.

Apr 09, 2009
Scott Brown said...
Wierd, maybe I AM Scott Brown. Or maybe I'm @xurizaemon after all.
Apr 09, 2009
SoreThumb said...
Whoah dude. If they put GIMP or a quality drawing app on this $200 tablet, I'll be all for it. :D <3
Apr 09, 2009
whazzup said...
2nd you on that, SoreThumb.

But that'll mean that they need 2 include pen functionality, and if ntrig's products are all there is right now, photoshop and gang will NOT be supported, sigh.....

Apr 09, 2009
KAI said...
I WANT ONE NOW......
Apr 10, 2009
Doug Winter said...
meh, I want a keyboard.
Apr 10, 2009
Kozuch said...
I love this device!
Apr 10, 2009
Josh Lim said...
Great stuff - I'll probably get one. What's with the 'Q' ? (Yes, I know it's supposed to be a C and a P). Let's hope they change it before production...before Compaq sues. Google for the Compaq logo and compare...it's a bit too close.
Apr 10, 2009
Sean McColgan said...
This is well crafted minimal viable product - with a roof that has no ceiling! Congrats to @Techcrunch. I'll hold off on that Kindle order...
Apr 10, 2009
amp68 said...
Now just add Bluetooth, so you can pair a keyboard and mouse if you choose to.
Apr 11, 2009
reg4c said...
Its not multitouch
Its a good idea but its so ugly...
Apr 11, 2009
rob said...
Send me a prototype and I'll bank roll your operation
Apr 11, 2009
crucialwax said...
I've wanted this for what seems like forever. For 200 bux, I'll buy it instantly. This won't replace my regular computers, it will augment them. I could use it in so many ways I can't even count that high. Key thing for me is adding my own mojo to it. Don't lock me out or otherwise make that hard.
Apr 21, 2009
Skyler said...
I, too, have been mystified as to how none of the major PC manufacturers have consider taking a device like this to market... if you look at the success of netbooks you can easily see that many people just want a device that allows them to browse the web!

I think this device will fail/succeed depending almost solely on the onscreen keyboard. I've yet to see an onscreen keyboard that I consider satisfying.

Apr 22, 2009
MICHAEL said...
This will be wayyyy better than other webtablets and stuff like that because 1) It's gonna be around $300. 2) It's portable and you can add a mouse or keyboard if you because it has a usb port. 3) IT'S GOT A FRIGGIN' CAMERA ON IT! 4) It might have an app store.... 5) You can watch videos from different websites, such as youtube, hulu, google, ETC, ETC... which means that is uses adobe! :D :D :D (Iphone only plays youtube; it doesn't have any adobe plugins). 6) oh yeah and you dont have to use a certain program for syncing stuff to it, like itunes (most annoying thing about ipods, although i still think the itouch was the best ipod/ mp3 player ever made!) I hope you can download music and other files to it... im almost positive that you can...
oh yeah and to all you doubters about this device:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/19/techcrunch-tablet-update-prototype-b/

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/21/we-want-a-dead-simple-web-tablet-help-us-build-it/

http://www.techcrunchit.com/2008/07/21/the-techcrunch-web-tablet-project/

http://www.techcrunchit.com/2008/07/21/techcrunch-web-tablet-part-2/

http://blog.dustincurtis.com/could-arrington-have-pulled-off-the-crunchpad#ixzz0DQCM8XC0&A

Apr 22, 2009
MICHAEL said...
hahaha! whoops i accidentally copied the url of this page on my post... :P
Apr 24, 2009
Jorge said...
This is not Mike's idea, way back in 2005 ThinPad had concept of building $100 tablet similar to olpc and in 2007 ThinPad presented their design /plan to Forbes entrepreneur contest and mike had access to those design.

Mike be fair, don't take credit for someone else work

Jun 30, 2009
Wifi Technology said...
Another prototype of the CrunchPad , Michael Arrington's web tablet , has been revealed. Superfically, not much has changed from the previous prototype , except the updated CrunchPad now has an aluminum case and is 18mm thinner.
Jul 05, 2009
Vista Cheng said...
Thanks.

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