Michael Arrington's
CrunchPad has never had a particularly firm basis in reality, and although we'd been promised that the
inexpensive browser-based tablet
would be launching soon, the sky's come crashing down: Mike says Fusion Garage, the company he hired to build the CrunchPad, has reneged on their deal, and that he's about to file "multiple lawsuits." What happened? Well, it's not exactly clear: according to Mike, the CrunchPad was ready to be launched on November 20, but on November 17 Fusion Garage decided to cut TechCrunch out of the deal and sell it directly. Oh, it's a sad tale, especially since Arrington claims a wide variety of industry heavyweights were lined up to support his tablet -- including development assistance from Intel complete with sweetheart pricing on Atom CPUs, a "major multi-billion dollar retailer" who offered to sell it at "zero margin," and even venture capital firms "waiting to invest in the company." Making matters worse, Mike's no longer buds with Fusion Garage CEO Chandra Rathakrishnan, who he thought he'd be friends with "for the rest of our lives." Tear. Now, we're not sure we've heard the last of the CrunchPad -- if anything, Michael Arrington is irrepressible -- but we can't say we're surprised the first chapter has ended in such fantastic fashion. We're assuming several major Hollywood studios are already lining up to buy the rights, and we've heard unconfirmed reports that George Clooney has signed on to star for free because he believes in the project so deeply.
posted November 30th 2009 11:46AM
"Crunch Pad" is a horrible name.
Reminds me of "Sudden Valley."
@(Unverified)
+1 for the arrested development reference!
@(Unverified)
How about 'Paradise Gardens'? I could see marinating a Crunch Pad in that.
I don't understand the article with all the metaphors.
The movie would be like a modern day "Tucker".
The bastards told arrington they were going to release the crunchpad without him. I hope they sue them to high heaven. To come up with a product and and told three days before launch you were not going to have anything to do with it from there on is a massive kick in the balls.
@kris120890 Arrington didn't offer anything to the hardware. He did get the word out though, which is worth something...but with no contract in place it's going to be easy for Fusion Garage to say that he was all talk and no action.
It's not going to be an open and shut case but it's not at all clear that Arrington was in the right here.
So something nobody really cared about never made it to production?
Shit happens.
Why do I have the feeling that Arrington isn't telling the whole story?
Either way, really can't say that I'm in any way surprised about this. In fact, I would have been VERY surprised if it actually made it to the market.
@NewL
SCREW YOU, NewL!!!
@Scape3d are you feeling quite alright? You seem a little upset about something, but I don't quite know what...
@Scape3d Anyone who downranks Scape3D doesn't get the reference.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsV-lgnAjps
@(Unverified)
Wow amazing video SOO humorous hahhaha. way to lose it lol.
@Scape3d
classic
I get the feeling that there is more to this story than we are hearing.
However, if true, it looks like Mr. Arrington might want to have someone double-checking whatever manufacturing contracts he is signing.
I am looking forward to this product. I hope this all gets worked out.
@(Unverified)
Have to agree, seems like he wasn't paying much attention to those contracts. Sad to see however I don't think anyone is surprised.
wow..... Doing the work and kicked out...
Arrington has to unleash his lawyers
Oh man it's like an episode from one of those latin-american tv-show series... "Tear." haha :-)
Too bad for the dude though , he has to do something about it !
Something does not smell right here. If he really had that level of backing for hardware, sales outlets and all why would anyone in their right mind involved in this project screw up what could be potentially huge sales and profit for all?
It did have the makings of a good device, guess the lawyers will keep it off the market now until it is yesterdays hardware.
"....who he thought he'd be friends with 'for the rest of our lives.'Tear"
LMFAO. That was pretty funny.
What? You guys didn't know it was all about a movie, book, and reality show deal? Come on, that's where the money is made these days.
I have a feeling its just a setup to sue Apple if the mysterious iTablet ever appears.
Actually Apple has bought the IP for the CrunchPad and will turn it into the tablet.
Then Arrington will take over Jobs as CEO.
Then we all get unicorns.
@(Unverified) Screw unicorns. We want jetpacks.
@(Unverified)
Don't be messing with me...I have been wanting a unicorn for like a looooong time man!
@(Unverified) If APPLE make iUnicorn, you accept iUnicorn gladly and praise it like the good fanboy you are!!!
@(Unverified): No, spaceplanes! Where the hell is my spaceplane, dammit?
@(Unverified)
a simple rock > a sandwich > fish > hamster > mice > dog and cat > horse > pony > unicorn > Pegasus > Stampy.
So, while unicorn is cool, it is not as cool than a pegasus (you can fly and do a poo bombardment at the same time).
@magallanes If that's the case, your ">"s are backwards. :)
Another outsourcing win! Brilliant.
"Screw You, Arrington!"
Leo Laporte was right.
The underlining concept will live on; maybe in the form of a Chrome OS tablet, maybe in the form of an Apple tablet. It is a novel idea.
For the CrunchPad, the gestation time just took too long, ARM-cpus are coming in art below $10, Google has shown their OS, Apple is patenting things left and right, the big players are starting to move and there really isn't enough room for a tech start-up anymore.
Apple has likely paid them off so they can sell their overpriced alternative.
@(Unverified)
I agree - Apple works in secrecy and this is just another situation where they're killing the opposition before they get in the market.
@(Unverified) I'll bet Arrington makes more money off advertising for articles about the Apple tablet than he stood to make on the Crunch Pad.
Payback for trying to screw Twitter a little while ago I guess.. Karma's a bitch Arrigton..
Knew this was vaporware the whole time
@poematik14
Arington-ware? That's when the hype around the prototype is sufficient for the device to defy gravity.
Endgaget-ware? That's when a prototype attracts more postings on a tech blog than the number of devices actually built and sold.
Should of had better lawyers & contracts from the start it looks like. I wish Mike well in his efforts.
*whispers* (pssst...No one would have bought that)
"...at zero margin"
Yep, that's likely.
@Greg For the initial period, to allow them to ramp up production for in the future.
Of three options, one will be true. This story, and Arrington's claims, will be verified or not depending on which one it is:
1. Fusion Garage will sell the tablet on their own, as - according to Arrington - they said they were going to do.
2. Arrington will actually file lawsuits.
3. Nothing at all will happen, and the industry will simply forget that the CrunchPad was even on the radar.
If one or two come true, we'll know Arrington was telling the truth. If number three comes to pass, we'll know he was full of his usual crap. Personally, I'd bet on number three.
Nelson Muntz says "Ha Ha" . Arr(ogant)ington is a lawyer, not a tech visionary. Yet another story of a 'revolutionary' product supposedly ruined by outside sources (notice how it is always at the last moment), when in reality, there is no concrete evidence this thing was EVER coming out.
Michael Arrington has always come off as a holier-than-thou jerk to me (remember his war against PR firms a few months back?), kinda hoping this might deflate his ego a bit.
Man!
COMING SOON
CRUNCHPAD X PHANTOM X GIZMONDO
I like M.Arrington.
Why all the hate towards him?
Scamville is genius.
This article leaves a really bad taste in my mouth. Do you have to be so sour about it? It was a bold project. It would have been great if it succeeded. It's sad it failed. Don't kick them while they're down.
Karma is a bitch. For all his writing about ebay not getting skype sorted and all his other trash talking it's not so ironic to see him suffering. Personally, I think this is all a big hard-line negotiating tactic and I'm sure the Fusion guys are no having a good day of it. Remember, he's a lawyer in his former life.
Also, am I the only one who read the TC article and came away thinking, hey, this doesn't sound like a product that was ready to ship? I mean, "It went hours without crashing"., what the hell does that mean. Sorry, I don't want t device that crashes every few hours.