Hey Everex, it's the 15th: CloudBooks please?

Ok Everex, it's been the 15th of February for more than 8 hours in the US. Still, your CloudBook is nowhere to be found on Wal-mart or ZaReason. As intriguing as this "deactivated" CloudBook page is over at NewEgg, it's hardly a replacement for the thrill of being the first kid on the block to unbox a $399, 7-inch laptop with 30GB disk now is it?

[Thanks, Dirkus and Travis M.]

Read -- Wal-mart (nope)
Read -- ZaReason (zilch)
Read -- NewEgg (you wish)

[mushrooshi @ Feb 15th 2008 8:31AM]

The people who are supposed to release them are too busy with their Eee PCs.

[NG @ Feb 15th 2008 11:53AM]

haha, exactly

[Student Driver @ Feb 15th 2008 2:09PM]

Well, WalMart is busy dumping HD DVD for the needed shelf space.

[tawnie @ Feb 15th 2008 8:39AM]

I have called everex this morning and they have no idea why its not for sale. the agent first compared it to a Wii and said it was at the brick and mortar wal marts but had sold out. I called every wal mart in AZ and they have not had anything everex in 6 months. I had a supervisor at everex take my name and number so they can contact me. I am on the phone with wal mart corporate right now and they have no idea. I have never had so much problem trying to get a company to take my money in my life.

[CRNewsom @ Feb 15th 2008 9:02AM]

I have, but only once.

I went to pay my rent in cash (I was out of checks), and they told me "we don't accept cash." I told them they had to, it's the law. That's the whole purpose of legal tender, isn't it? I paid $.99 for a money order and appeased them, that month. The next month, I brought cash again, but had a cop with me (friend). Strangely, they will accept cash when forced to by a law enforcement officer.

Then there was the guy with $2 bills at Best Buy, but that is another story.

[ManekiNeko @ Feb 15th 2008 9:22AM]

I'm sure Asus would be more than happy to take that money off your hands!

[saintchuck @ Feb 15th 2008 9:30AM]

No one has to accept cash. It is legal tender not must accept tender.

[CRNewsom @ Feb 15th 2008 9:52AM]

The dictionary is your friend:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/legal%20tender

[White_Pheonix @ Feb 15th 2008 9:52AM]

@ saintchuck:

Legal tender for all debts, public and private. Also see wikipedia: "Legal tender or forced tender is payment that, by law, cannot be refused in settlement of a debt denominated in the same currency."

[Mark Teitelbaum @ Feb 15th 2008 9:53AM]

It depends. If they already provided the service to you, then they MUST accept any legal tender. I.E. If you go to a restaurant and at the end of the meal you get a bill of $40, they legally have to accept any type of legal tender (yes, even 4,000 pennies.) However, if you go to check out a store such as Wal-Mart, they don't have to accept anything since they haven't "sold" the product to you yet. It's private property and they can just throw you out if they don't want to take 10,000 pennies for a $100 purchase.

[jodosh @ Feb 15th 2008 10:02AM]

http://www.treas.gov/education/faq/currency/legal-tender.shtml

A symentaic argument is nice and all, but the Us government says otherwise.

[AJ in the East Bay @ Feb 15th 2008 10:59AM]

Back on topic, Tawnie, you really want that Everex, don't ya? If the money is burning a hole in your pocket, I'll take it ;)

[Steve C. @ Feb 15th 2008 6:23PM]

These guys need to go back to square one and study Apple and Honda when it comes to new product introductions.

The worst thing to do is show your prototypes so far in advance of when you can actually deliver a bulletproof product. Otherwise, you lose all the energy that a really new product generates its first few weeks in the store.

If this is another false start (like last month), it only serves to cause everyone to question whether there are fundamental flaws in the product.

I for one am not camping out at my local Wal Mart. I will now wait until the product in on the market a couple of months to see if the production version meets everyone's expecations. If there are a lot of folks like me (and I suspect they are) this is very bad news for Everex.

Meanwhile the ASUSTeK folks have to be laughing their butts off.

[Steve Paine @ Feb 15th 2008 9:32AM]

Apparently the Cloudbooks are shipping today.
http://www.ultramobilelife.com/index.php/20080215769/CloudBooks-now-in-boxes-so-that-you-can-unbox-them.htm

Steve

[edmund @ Feb 15th 2008 9:51AM]

That pick is from ZaReason.com's news from yesterday. They received a development version, not an actual shipped copy.

[gork @ Feb 15th 2008 11:37AM]

No that pick is a real one...that went to one of Zareason's developers.

[Syke @ Feb 15th 2008 9:35AM]

I didn't see any at my local walmart late last night, so hardly believe they sold out :D And I live near a large metropolitan area with the only high scale walmart in existence.

[striggity @ Feb 15th 2008 9:37AM]

I wasnt' aware ppl were waiting on these things so much. :-) it is awesome to see the mini/bargain laptop field gaining so much recognition!!

[strider_mt2k @ Feb 15th 2008 9:38AM]

C'mon get the lead out!

Oh man maybe that's what's holding them up!

[JaeDot @ Feb 15th 2008 10:04AM]

Yeah, I'm about ready to call these fools in a couple hours. If they don't want to take my money for the exchange of their product which is supposedly launched today, I'm just going to take it to a local establishment and help a few girls get through college.

[JC @ Feb 15th 2008 10:26AM]

You're going to go to your local post secondary education institution and start a scholarship? Good on you.

[an7hony @ Feb 15th 2008 10:22AM]

I just came from my local Walmart; they never even heard of the cloudbook, much less had any to sell.

[Meltz @ Feb 15th 2008 10:23AM]

Don't forget the 15th of Feb. is also national That's What She Said day!

[yongzhao @ Feb 15th 2008 10:52AM]

If Everex really cares their customer, they should let them know in advance if they can not ship it on time. It is a VERY BAD practice to depress their customer by disspointing them time and time again!

Unfortunately, they did it once. I am afraid that they are going to do it again.

Everex sucks!

[Stephen @ Feb 15th 2008 11:04AM]

I'm still holding out hope. Zareason.com execs told me yesterday they had the units and were still shipping today. Crossing my fingers.

[yongzhao @ Feb 15th 2008 11:06AM]

So you are among those who made the preorder from zareason? Lucky you!

[Stephen @ Feb 15th 2008 11:17AM]

I preordered, but I can't get in contact with them today, maybe they haven't opened or they're avoiding our calls because it was delayed. Still crossing my fingers.

[Stephen @ Feb 15th 2008 11:33AM]

I'm going to be severely ticked if it gets delayed again.

[Belutz @ Feb 15th 2008 11:34AM]

In Indonesia, Zyrex (local computer brand) just launch Cloudbook with the brand Zyrex Ubud. It will be in the market around next week they said.

[woohoo @ Feb 15th 2008 11:37AM]

http://blog.laptopmag.com
Laptop Mag has the Cloudbook

[gork @ Feb 15th 2008 11:39AM]

Apparently, Engadget editors CAN'T READ. The Cloudbook IS shipping today. Zareason has been sold out of their initial allotment for about a week now.

[Hax Or @ Feb 15th 2008 11:51AM]

No, the point is: they were supposed to be at Wal-mart, et al.

They are not. The truth hurts.

[gork @ Feb 15th 2008 12:05PM]

Who said they were going to be IN the STORE? They are likely supposed to be online only AND Walmart is a big company. There's likely some bureaucratic snafu why it's not on their website. The fact is, Zareason is SOLD OUT of the Cloudbook and has been for a week. Thy ARE shipping today from Zareason as far as I know according to my discussion with Cathy Malmrose.

Busting on Everex is entirely uncalled for. In fact, Everex and the folks at gOS are just wanting to have as smooth as a launch as they can. Microsoft and now Engadget readers don't give a crap about whether it just works or not.

[Jason @ Feb 15th 2008 6:34PM]

I've been checking out Walmart online and offline, still heard nothing about the Cloudbook. Then I visited Everex's company site and saw something interesting:

"Find your $399 CloudBook at Walmart.com and ZaReason.com beginning 2/21/08."

I've been visiting their site http://www.everex.com/ every single day and I swear that date still said 2/15/08 just a few hours ago...