Always Innovating's half-finished online store lists Touch Book tablet in stock, $99 keyboard sold separately

Remember Always Innovative's Touch Book? Looks like the company's gearing up to start selling the rather unique netbook / removable tablet hybrid, as noted by its under construction X-Cart powered online store. Four entries are currently listed -- two for the Touch Book tablet and two for the keyboard, both available in grey and red and with 100 units in stock for each. Prices were $299 for the tablet and $99 for keyboard and, yeah, we get the feeling you'll want to buy both for the full experience. No indication of an actual ship date. Try as we might, we couldn't manage to check out with our order, but perhaps we'll get some news shortly.

Update: We've been contacted by Always Innovating, who confirmed that the store was viewable by way of an error, and that the Touch Book can still be pre-ordered for summer shipping. The company also confirmed that the keyboard will be available separately for $99, the tablet for $299, with the whole deal going for $399.


[Thanks, Jeff]

[crawdad689 @ Apr 15th 2009 12:18AM]

I think there's a great chance Apple will do something similar to this for their next "netbook".

Basically, I think we'll see a huge (10") touchscreen, shaped similar to the iPhone, just much bigger, and then we'll see some sort of optional, add-on keyboard that can snap onto the screen so that it can be opened/closed like a regular netbook.

Seems like a great form factor, all in all. DO WANT!

[Charbax @ Apr 15th 2009 12:28AM]

Apple s&cks and will never do a product that isn't a POS.

Please stop talking about Apple and Twitter. They s%ck. Thanks.

[CreepinJesus @ Apr 15th 2009 4:50AM]

@Charbax

They sock? They sack?

[KingGun @ Apr 15th 2009 12:30AM]

Always innovative or Innovating???

[Charbax @ Apr 15th 2009 12:27AM]

The Touch Book is the worlds first Texas Instruments Cortex A8 based laptop, well done for releasing it!

I think that they should offer the keyboard included at the $299 price.

Make it easy to install Android on it.

I actually posted all my feature suggestions at http://touchbookfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12

[Lando Calrissian @ Apr 15th 2009 1:43AM]

Thank you for sharing!

[Casey @ Apr 15th 2009 12:31AM]

I would really like to see some benchmarks on this thing, or at least a video walk-through. I think it will defiantly be worth keeping an eye on.

[Billy @ Apr 15th 2009 12:57AM]

Really? Do you always look at things in a defiant way? Or did you mean definitely?

[Zack Polk @ Apr 15th 2009 1:18AM]

There is a video here:

http://www.demo.com/demonstrators/demo2009/165388.html

[rock99rock @ Apr 15th 2009 1:37AM]

Thanks for the link to the video :) The video he was watching looked to stutter a bit.. I'm still amazed at this device regardless.

[Charbax @ Apr 15th 2009 1:47AM]

Video playback shouldn't stutter at all. As long as they pay for the DSP video decoders. All codecs should work perfectly smooth on the Texas Instruments OMAP3 processor that is used. Even 720p HD resolution for DivX and WMV should work if they are using the latest OMAP with DSP processor and if they manage licenses for that.

[dennis @ Apr 15th 2009 9:52AM]

The tablet portion of this device is magnetic and will stick to a refrigerator (according to the video demo). I hadn't heard that before.

I think the Disney video playback during the demonstration stuttered because the French guy switched it to full screen playback.

[bhtooefr @ Apr 15th 2009 11:14AM]

You can also look at benchmarks for the Beagleboard revision C2, it's the same basic hardware. (The only differences on this one are that the LCD control signals are actually used for an LCD (and are on a different place on the board, and there's a USB hub built in. It's actually derived from the Beagleboard revision B6/B7, IIRC, but has all of the functionality and same specs as C2.)

[Jeremy @ Apr 15th 2009 12:58AM]

Ya, at $299 with the keyboard it's at a competitive price point. At $399 people would more likely consider other (non-touchscreen) alternatives.

[Billy @ Apr 15th 2009 1:00AM]

I figure just find a cheaper usb keyboard with maybe a trackball attachment and you have a neat touch screen device that can still be used like a regular pc for much less than you could have otherwise.

Still, $399 with a touchscreen is a pretty good price I think.

[Garry @ Apr 16th 2009 11:21AM]

Don't forget the keyboard has a second battery in it. You need it for 10-15 hours battery life. Otherwise it's 3-4.

I gotta say that 10-15 hours is very appealing. Slightly better than the 10-15 seconds I get with my current 3yr old laptop :)

[Jeremy K. @ Apr 15th 2009 1:06AM]

lol:
https://www.alwaysinnovating.com/store/home.php

"This is a demo store powered by X-Cart. Based on PHP template technology and integrated with an SQL database, it is a fully functional store that allows you to try X-Cart shopping cart software. As a buyer, you can browse products, put products into your cart and check out. As an administrator, you can add categories, products and change the look and feel of the store. If you have any questions please contact us.

This service is for demo purposes only. No real products. No real prices. No real charges. Please do not submit real credit card information.

To replace this text with a welcome message of your own, log in as administrator, select the Webmaster mode link in the Administration box, then follow the instructions."

[Sean @ Apr 15th 2009 1:07AM]

I'd like to see more info about this book .... but site has nothing ...

[reddyroc @ Apr 15th 2009 1:31AM]

really looking forward to this. i want a touchscreen anything... and i happen to be in the market for a netbook. gimme.

[notselfcreated @ Apr 15th 2009 1:51AM]

I preordered this, and then canceled and went with the Aspire One D150 instead. I hope I made the right choice; if this things gets reviewed and found to have really good performance, I might be kicking myself.

[CreepinJesus @ Apr 15th 2009 4:52AM]

I'll help you.

[Bucky @ Apr 15th 2009 8:12AM]

The Read link is no longer live. When I go to the store, it's still the pre-order page. I really think I'm going to give this a shot and order it up. If I don't like it, it goes back (within 15 days, of course)

[CBONE @ Apr 15th 2009 10:03AM]

Need some specs on this, but it sure looks nice.

[Steven @ Apr 15th 2009 10:30AM]

Buy separately, save a dollar.

[Chris Top Her @ Apr 15th 2009 8:31PM]

Was just gonna post and ask why the bundle costs more.

[james.chiffons @ Apr 15th 2009 11:59AM]

If it's running the BBoard OMAP3 then it should be easily upgraded to the OMAP4 board when it's readily available drastically improving the performance.

[Peter @ Apr 15th 2009 12:46PM]

I don't understand why people would buy the keyboard together with the Touch Book. There's no incentive to buy both at the same time - why not just buy the Touch Book and then later, if you decide you need the keyboard, buy it? It'll be cheaper that way (by only a dollar, but cheaper nonetheless - unless you factor in shipping charges if applicable - then it'd be cheaper to buy them separately at the same time).

It irritates me when companies try to package the items together for more than the individual components...

[Mile @ Apr 15th 2009 1:22PM]

Save $1 by buying the keyboard and tablet separately instead of the bundle!

[cab049 @ Apr 15th 2009 6:02PM]

Hmm, shouldn't there be some sort of incentive to purchase both together??

[grant @ Apr 15th 2009 7:32PM]

Yeah what the hell, why is the bundle $1 more? You'd have to be pretty lazy to think adding one item to your cart instead of two is worth a dollar.

[Sean961 @ Apr 16th 2009 12:44AM]

That's ridiculous, you lose a dollar when you go for the full deal!
Better off buying them separately...

you can thank me later

[jupiterthunder @ Apr 17th 2009 12:24PM]

I n case it has not been said, the bundle cost more than buying them separately. :D

[steve @ May 18th 2009 10:14AM]

seriously ... its a dollar more. when was the last time you saw something priced at 398, anyway ?