
Why Michael Arrington Is The Real Winner In The CrunchPad Ordeal - kloncks
http://www.ihany.com/2009/12/07/michael-arrington-is-the-winner-with-this-crunchpad-situation/
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jsz0
"If you look at the blogosphere, there’s wide support for Mike. No one
believes Chandra’s story nor does it sound very plausible"

I don't really see any evidence to support this statement. At best it's 50/50
and at worst Mr. Arrington's reputation is possibly tipping it in FG's favor.
Personally I think it's pretty obvious that a blogger/business man had little
or nothing to do with the actual nuts & bolts development of the product.
Entirely possible his money was involved but we don't know yet.

"If I were @arrington I’d be breathing a big sigh of relief. A $500 tablet is
NOT what he envisioned."

He started at $300, then it was $400. Now it's $500. It doesn't seem while he
was involved pricing was working out exactly as he had envisioned. Perhaps
this disparity alone explains the true situation. FG doesn't seem to be
equipped to puke out millions of CrunchPads selling for a tiny margin. They
can however sell a product with a higher margin to a smaller tablet loving
audience. It's a much more realistic business model for FG. Once you hit $400
another $100 really doesn't really matter that much. As Apple said the iPod
Touch and iPhone took off at $199. That's the price point a mainstream
audience will pay. Arrington's business model for the CrunchPad was probably a
little too pie-in-the-sky for FG.

~~~
seldo
Yeah, this guy is apparently not reading the same blogosphere as I am.

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mrtron
If the device succeeds Arrington can brag about how it was his vision and was
ripped out from under him. Also how it succeeded despite not being something
as good or as cheap as he imagined.

If the device fails he will claim it was a result of price point and not
falling in line with what he originally envisioned.

There we have a win-win situation, kudos for Arrington getting to it so
publicly.

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yumraj
I'm sorry but I really don't get the logic of how Arrington won? He may not
have lost, but nowhere do I see him "winning".

If the logic is that he "won" because otherwise he would have lost bigger,
relatively speaking, maybe, but that is some twisted logic and seems like sour
grapes.

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alaskamiller
My vision for the future involves ending world hunger, a Mars base, and an
alternative energy source to power everything in the world. To accomplish
these things I will set a budget of $5 dollars. Because I _see_ it's the right
amount of money to charge for all that.

I'm going to call my plan "The Future." Since I just wrote about it online, in
a comment, any time any one reference The Future, or even mention the future,
and it includes some aspect of my plan I demand you credit me and attribute me
as being involved. Because I _wrote_ about the idea first.

Also, the _blogosphere_ agrees with me about ending world hunger, having a
Mars base, and the need for an alternative fuel source so I'm right. Because
we all know if it's popular then it's more important than the truth and
popular people are always the best judges of plausibilities in an intellectual
property legal dispute where there are no legal documents.

This is why Michael Arrington won.

~~~
nikcub
your analogy would be really cool and interesting if it applied in this case,
but it doesn't.

I was involved in the Crunchpad from day 1 and we actually built a lot of
things - long before anybody else came along.

You might have a different viewpoint if you have ever had anything you built
or were involved with stolen from you. It sucks.

Not just from an IP perspective, but from a 'lets ride this wave while it
suits us' perspective as well.

~~~
codexon
What exactly did you work on? Not to be rude, but there was nothing original
about the crunchpad except for the estimated price.

~~~
ryanwaggoner
Really? Can you point me to a link where I can buy one?

~~~
codexon
Sure thing!

<http://www.google.com/products?q=touchscreen+tablet+pc>

~~~
ryanwaggoner
Cute. Can you point me to a slim touchscreen tablet that boots directly into
the browser?

~~~
mattmcknight
I believe you specify that in your start up options- even in Windows!

How thin is thin? How thin do you really need it to be?

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gojomo
A working, shipping $499 tablet is a more important step on the path to a $199
tablet than just wishing for a $199 tablet.

~~~
jrockway
But Arrington's competitors beat him to this. And the competition are full
computers running Windows 7, not just glorified web browsers.

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jonknee
I chuckle at people who scoff at the price and in the next breath say Apple
will own the tablet market. If Apple makes a tablet it will almost certainly
be the most expensive product in its category. It will be killer, but priced
accordingly. They charge $179 for a WiFi router for goodness sake--there is no
way they're coming to market with a 12" tablet for $200.

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SamAtt
I agree that Arrington got kicked off what is essentially a sinking ship and
that he should count his blessings. But he doesn't seem to know that. He
admits he was willing to go ahead with supporting this product until a week
ago.

Also there's no doubt he got played and on his own blog to boot.

The fact that anyone even covered "The JooJoo" shows that. Always Innovating
Touch Book is a cheaper product that appears superior in just about every way
and it never made it to the top of Techmeme. Arrington got strung along and
then cut loose after he'd outlived his usefulness and that's got to p*ss him
off

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lo_fye
"Who's the big winner here tonight? Mikey! Mikey's the big winnerrr!" -- I
tried to find the clip from Swingers, but Youtube has eradicated it :(

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rjurney
I guess it doesn't occur to the author that one typically introduces new
electronic devices at a higher price so that early adopters buy them at high
margins to cover R&D? At least that is how Apple does it, right?

If they have a $500 tablet now, and are first to market... they can probably
have a $300, and then $200 tablet sooner than anyone.

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Ixiaus
The CrunchPad was a cool idea, what would make it a real winner for hackers is
if the hardware and software were open sourced. I know hardware is a bit more
difficult to open source, especially if you are purchasing necessary
components from other vendors, but it's still a fun idea. esp. for something
like the CrunchPad :)

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jasonlbaptiste
if it was more than a toy, 499 would be fine with me. the atom processor (if
its the dual core) is okay. the hard drive space, memory, and overall os just
aren't appealing. at 499 I want a real computer, not a toy. that's my problem
with things like chromeos- they're gravitating us towards a lower common
denominator of computing. were conditioning people to go for cheap toys, that
don't really do much. i'd rather go for things that don't cost a ton, but cost
something and act like a real computer.

~~~
stcredzero
The thing would be vastly more powerful than an Apple II. The Apple II wasn't
a "real computer?" Maybe we need to clarification on definitions?

My point: what's most salient for how useful a processor or any piece of
hardware, is _to what purpose_ that hardware is going to be put. If the thing
is _just for browsing_ then it probably has enough. Whether _just browsing_
fits a lot of people's use of the web is another matter. (If it's just an
adjunct to another machine, why not have it map the user's Downloads
directory?)

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wglb
So Arrington's contribution is the price point and because Garage is selling
it at a higher price point and cutting Arrington out leads to the conclusion
that Arrington won?

Not quite following that logic.

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j2d2
I agree. $499 is a deal-breaker for me. I will happily wait for Apple's device
now.

~~~
teej
$499 is a dealbreaker? How much do you expect the (imaginary) Apple Tablet to
cost?

~~~
Devilboy
It will be $599 and only come in white, but it won't matter. Everyone will buy
it anyway.

~~~
Andys
Why would it be cheaper than an iphone?

~~~
Devilboy
It won't make phonecalls so you still have to buy the improved 2010 iPhone too
of course.

