Entelligence: Lessons from the CrunchPad
By Michael Gartenberg 
posted December 10th 2009 6:25PM
posted December 10th 2009 6:25PM
Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he'll explore where our industry is and where it's going -- on both micro and macro levels -- with the unique wit and insight only he can provide.
Last weekend, Nilay Patel did a great overview of the murky legal issues surrounding the mysterious CrunchPad -- now coming to market direct from developer Fusion Garage as the $499 Joojoo. While I won't get into the swirling controversy, I think there's a few important lessons to be learned from this great gadget debacle.
First, smart vendors under-promise and over-deliver. The hype and buzz around the CrunchPad were off the charts from day one. Everything from the delivery schedule to the initial price points were unrealistic, made moreso by continued promises to publicly show the prototype and targeted price points that kept rising with each announcement. Keep it low-key and simple -- then surprise and delight your customers with early ship dates and lower than expected prices. Too much promise with no delivery is the classic recipe for having a product get tagged vaporware. Always good to remember, "Whom gods destroy, they first make humble."
Second lesson: delivering consumer electronics products to market is hard. Sure, folks like Chris Anderson talk about how atoms are the new bits, but it's not that simple. While a plethora of ODMs are out there waiting to build devices for clients, simply having an idea for some gadget and hoping to farm it out to a manufacturer in Asia is a lot more complicated than it seems. Can it be done? Sure -- just ask Peek CEO Amol Sarva. But to make it work, you have to know something about the CE business, costs of materials and goods, and a real knowledge of the retail channel. Some of the claims about large CE retailers willing to carry the CrunchPad for "zero margin" or that one could include a 12-inch capacitive screens for a device that would cost $199 simply made no sense to anyone who understands the industry, and while the Joojoo needs to sell for $499 just to recoup the cost of materials, it's unlikely to find many buyers at that price point.
Third lesson: there's a fine line between products that can truly stand alone and products that should be subsumed into fuller-featured devices or services. No matter the legal issues or the hype, the CrunchPad / Joojoo concept itself is a bad idea. A device that does nothing but run a web browser with no specific or tailored services offerings behind it is a bad idea. Even Google Chrome OS offers more than that. Did no one stop to think that any generic netbook could offer the same
experience as well as a superset of functionality for less cost? Browsing is one of the things netbooks are best at doing -- and I can run my browser of choice.
Fourth lesson: gadgets designed for the needs of a niche audience are rarely successful. Even if you think the concept of a tablet device that can only run a web browser is a good idea, you might want to check if there's really a mass market for such a device. Niche devices have never achieved great market success, and I think it's just a matter of time before JooJoo gets positioned as a vertical market solution. Vertical markets are where mass market products that failed go to die.
I could go on, but there's no need. Personally, I'd have liked to have seen the CrunchPad be a success as it was originally conceived -- as something to meet a specific need with a breakthrough price point. There's hardly any chance of success here at $499.
Robert Browning once said " A man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a Heaven for?" Perhaps that's the most important lesson of the CrunchPad / Joojoo saga. Call me a gadget romantic, but I like the idea of someone with no background in consumer electronics coming out of nowhere with the "next big thing." Sadly, the CrunchPad didn't look like that from day one, and the Joojoo looks even less likely to succeed now. Even though I said the CrunchPad would never come to market the way it was originally promised, I admire effort even in the face of the harsh reality that the Joojoo is likely to face in the market. Unless there's some pretty strong pre-order action, I'm even skeptical that this product will ever even ship, at least in its current form and at its current price.
Michael Gartenberg is vice president of strategy and analysis at Interpret, LLC. His weblog can be found at gartenblog.net. Contact him at gartenberg AT gmail DOT com. Views expressed here are his own.
First, smart vendors under-promise and over-deliver. The hype and buzz around the CrunchPad were off the charts from day one. Everything from the delivery schedule to the initial price points were unrealistic, made moreso by continued promises to publicly show the prototype and targeted price points that kept rising with each announcement. Keep it low-key and simple -- then surprise and delight your customers with early ship dates and lower than expected prices. Too much promise with no delivery is the classic recipe for having a product get tagged vaporware. Always good to remember, "Whom gods destroy, they first make humble."
Second lesson: delivering consumer electronics products to market is hard. Sure, folks like Chris Anderson talk about how atoms are the new bits, but it's not that simple. While a plethora of ODMs are out there waiting to build devices for clients, simply having an idea for some gadget and hoping to farm it out to a manufacturer in Asia is a lot more complicated than it seems. Can it be done? Sure -- just ask Peek CEO Amol Sarva. But to make it work, you have to know something about the CE business, costs of materials and goods, and a real knowledge of the retail channel. Some of the claims about large CE retailers willing to carry the CrunchPad for "zero margin" or that one could include a 12-inch capacitive screens for a device that would cost $199 simply made no sense to anyone who understands the industry, and while the Joojoo needs to sell for $499 just to recoup the cost of materials, it's unlikely to find many buyers at that price point.
Third lesson: there's a fine line between products that can truly stand alone and products that should be subsumed into fuller-featured devices or services. No matter the legal issues or the hype, the CrunchPad / Joojoo concept itself is a bad idea. A device that does nothing but run a web browser with no specific or tailored services offerings behind it is a bad idea. Even Google Chrome OS offers more than that. Did no one stop to think that any generic netbook could offer the same
Call me a gadget romantic, but I like the idea of someone with no background in consumer electronics coming out of nowhere with the "next big thing." |
Fourth lesson: gadgets designed for the needs of a niche audience are rarely successful. Even if you think the concept of a tablet device that can only run a web browser is a good idea, you might want to check if there's really a mass market for such a device. Niche devices have never achieved great market success, and I think it's just a matter of time before JooJoo gets positioned as a vertical market solution. Vertical markets are where mass market products that failed go to die.
I could go on, but there's no need. Personally, I'd have liked to have seen the CrunchPad be a success as it was originally conceived -- as something to meet a specific need with a breakthrough price point. There's hardly any chance of success here at $499.
Robert Browning once said " A man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a Heaven for?" Perhaps that's the most important lesson of the CrunchPad / Joojoo saga. Call me a gadget romantic, but I like the idea of someone with no background in consumer electronics coming out of nowhere with the "next big thing." Sadly, the CrunchPad didn't look like that from day one, and the Joojoo looks even less likely to succeed now. Even though I said the CrunchPad would never come to market the way it was originally promised, I admire effort even in the face of the harsh reality that the Joojoo is likely to face in the market. Unless there's some pretty strong pre-order action, I'm even skeptical that this product will ever even ship, at least in its current form and at its current price.
Michael Gartenberg is vice president of strategy and analysis at Interpret, LLC. His weblog can be found at gartenblog.net. Contact him at gartenberg AT gmail DOT com. Views expressed here are his own.
if you slapped Android on it....now we are talking.
All the hype came from Mr. Arrington. Especially in regards to the price. People should probably wait until there is a real hands-on review of the final hardware/software. I think it's a fairly impressive device. Nothing else on the market like it right now. This first batch of devices at $500 is a trial ballon. If it's successful at all FG will get more funding and be able to ramp up production to hit lower price points.
Arrington must have loved the marketing behind the Optimus Maximus keyboard and followed suit. At least it didn't take 50 years for the product to come out.
@xxglocoxx: Dude, I ridicule Apple fanbois every now and then, but you have a serious problem. Did you take your medication today? Perhaps is time for the next dose?
I think that the crunchpad is more suited to modders than its intended use. Imagine what you could do with a twelve inch capacative screen. Just take that and put it on you windows 7 laptop, instant tablet, there you go.
First let me get this out the way, JooJoo is not the greatest name.
I would definitely buy a joojoo if it had even a basic os, just something where I could email with a virtual keyboard, save pictures, and a music player. I've been wanting a sleek internet tablet with no physical keyboard for a while. From what I understand is this thing only does internet?
@Hotrod Excuse me, I've been out of touch lately. Checked out Giz's post on it, I guess it does have those things I asked for. I think I'll pick one up if the reviews are decent.
Joojoo will not take off. Obvious.
@aubreyq
yelling at apple fanboys is never enough, you have to understand this! hes pointed out some good facts.
@xxglocoxx
Just because you don't understand what Apple continues to bring to the table, does not mean everyone is on Apple's dick. Apple has a habit of not sticking its foot in its mouth when it works hard on a project for a long period of time. You just have to skim the rumors to realize how much development effort they're putting into this. jobs doesn't care how man engineer hearts he has to break if the product sucks... it doesn't ship. As one analyst said, Apple can wait. It has that flexibility. Others don't. They ship half-baked products like this. Ask yourself... does Joo Joo look "half-baked"? I think it does. The "Standtum Slate" looks MUCH better than this product, at "concept" stage at least. This product looks very flaky in the video, as if any moment you'll see some major thing that hasn't been accounted for.
For $500, this product looks like a BAD IDEA. At $199, the price would have been a substantial "feature" to consider, and many would. I'm sure many people have concerns over many levels of this product. Google Chrome is open source. This product says it will have "APIs", but I think a lot of people look at this as a "dodge" for saying, "We don't have much going on here, but other people can add things". This is different than being "open". People already have enough problems with Google and Apple from time to time, who needs some unknown coming in and not being completely clear and detailed?
A lot of people by now and familiar with having a Chinese manufacturer put together some nice hardware for you. Doing up some decent software? Also not much of a problem. Integrating it all together, and providing a solid consumer experience? --Always where things fall apart... nevermind patent infringement.
There's a lot of moving pieces here, and having people swoop in and nail it, is a testament to multi-company coordination, deal making, and foresight. It's clear that's not actually happening here. The video of Chandra is embrassing. It looks like a YouTube ransom note. The vapors are strong here.
Apple will sell this for twice the price and you will love it.
Hitler discovers the CrunchPad is no longer the CrunchPad, but now the JooJoo. Hilarity ensues.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhozjQJKR_0