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Joojoo

The Joojoo was formerly the “CrunchPad”, made famous by Michael Arrington. The original CrunchPad was recently pronounced dead and now is alive again.

The Joojoo is a reborn version of the CrunchPad and instead of costing less $200 is now selling for $499.

The term “joojoo” is really supposed to be “juju,” an African word meaning magical. And for it to make some waves in the consumer electronics industry, it will need some magic for sure. The rationale being that it will be a tough sell at $499 for basically a touch screen wifi enabled tablet running a custom OS. It’s a lightweight (2.4 lbs) web browser for $499, but will consumers be willing to shell out the dough for this?

The rebirth of the CrunchPad / Joojoo, is an intriguing story in the technology space. Michael Arrington was the front man and face of the product who brought along a lot of hype and street credibility to the project. Now he is the one coming under fire as the reason why the CrunchPad was doomed. And the big question of whether or now Fusion Garage will actually ship these devices is still up in the air.

Whether or not the 12.1 tablet built on the custom Linux OS (similar to Chrome) will succeed will ultimately be up to consumers. But For me a wifi only tablet isn’t that much more valuable than a iphone or netbook. As always, time will tell.

Here is a first look video of the Joojoo / CrunchPad.

-- anton

Tags: crunchpad rebirth, joojoo, juju, Michael Arrington;, Tablet, techcrunch
Filed in: Computers, PCs, and Macs