Fusion Garage says Joojoo pre-orders went up after iPad announcement, new funding on the way
By Donald Melanson 
posted February 1st 2010 12:13PM
posted February 1st 2010 12:13PM
FusionGarage may have thrown a few PayPal rules to the wind with its early Joojoo pre-orders, but it looks like they may have paid off for the company (assuming they actually go through). In an interview with SGEntrepreneurs, Fusion Garage CEO Chandra Rathakrishnan says that orders for the device actually went up following Apple's iPad announcement, although he unsurprisingly didn't reveal any actual numbers. Chandra did drop a few other interesting details, however, including word that the company with soon announce a partnership with a "major mobile phone player" that has a "significant" market share in Southeast Asia, and who will also supposedly take care of the manufacturing cost of the Joojoo. That's on top of an announcement of a new round of funding, which apparently totals somewhere south of $10 million. Still no word of a firm ship date for the device, of course, which still stands at the same 8-10 weeks that it did more than a month ago.
[Thanks, Daniel]
[Thanks, Daniel]
@Mrwirez IF
@Mrwirez
Wait, wouldn't that be a complete wasted since this is a completely web-based OS?
"a "major mobile phone player" that has a "significant" market share in Southeast Asia"
Hmm, NOKLA?
@muol
HAHAHA!!!
JooJoo: 5 hours of battery life
iPad: 10 hours of battery life
This link shows that the JOOJOO is projected to do alot better in sales than the ipad. I personally don't like this apple product..
http://gopost.info/59
@goalscor91
Anybody predicting that Joojoo will do better than the iPad is a full on idiot. It's less functional than the iPad, the UI is worse, the infrastructure is worse, and the list goes on and on.
Whether you like Apple or not is irrelevant. The iPad will easily outsell Joojoo, for fairly obvious reasons.
@goalscor91
Well, it's on the internet, so it MUST be true!
oh and that battery life statement is completetly and utterly false..
I'd certainly rather have this than that underwhelming giant iPod touch
@ZeroCorpse
Yeah, I like to spend the same amount of money on an even more underwhelming device that does LESS.
Enjoy your fancy black serving tray when you don't have internet, you stupid tool.
@cherryboom
You're going on the old-fashioned, tired premise that PCs are unreliable, and therefore repaired or upgraded more frequently than a Mac, I assume.
That's fantasy.
These days, PCs aren't changing as quickly as they did ten years ago, and most of the crappy manufacturers (Packard Bell, etc.) fell out of the marketplace. An ASUS laptop is just as long-lasting, relevant, and durable as a MacBook will be.
I spent $800 on a laptop with more features, more upgradability, and a more open platform. It's much more versatile than my MacBook was, and while I was constantly trading up to the newest Apple offering because each new iteration had a slight increase in graphics capability which I deemed necessary to my projects, with the ASUS I got a more powerful, dedicated video card from the beginning, and this is the first time in a few years that I've actually got a reason to keep the same computer for over one year.
And when the ASUS does start to seem slow, I can actually swap out the CPU or GPU for a newer one. You can't do that with the MacBook.
So, too, with the iPad; Nothing's upgradeable! Not even the storage! If you buy a 32GB iPad, then 32GB (less space for the iPhone OS) is what you get. You can't change the CPU, GPU, storage capacity, or anything else. If it's not software sold by Apple, you're not changing a damn thing.
And good luck when the battery acts wonky. You'll have to take it to an Apple Store and have them charge you to change it for you, because they'll no doubt say the battery is bad because you handled it improperly.
Apple computers and devices aren't like they used to be. They don't last forever, and they aren't infinitely upgradable. They're a closed architecture, with proprietary hardware and soldered-in chips, and it sure looks like-- if Steve Jobs has his way-- You Mac users will soon be getting MacBooks with a new version of OS X that more closely resembles the way the iPhone OS is set-up than a true, open OS.
Steve wants you to buy all your software from his store, and he wants the Mac to eventually turn into a computer appliance. The iPad is the next step in the march toward that goal.
meh, still think the MSI tablet running Android eats this for lunch
Anyone who pre-pays for one of these had better not expect their money back .... or a JooJoo. This has "scam" written all over it in my opinion.
Great to hear something original (without a ripped off UI interface) is strong competition for Apple!
@Jake88
In what way is this strong competition for the iPad? It's about a million times less functional, and it costs the same.
@(Unverified)
And iPad is less functional than joojoo-->
joojoo
@Jake88
Uh, ripped off? Which product are you referring to?? Apple is using it's own UI. One can't rip one's self off.
If anything, Joojoo is ripping off Apple's interface. The way they present several web pages side by side in that screenshot looks almost exactly like the way it is done on the iPhone and Touch.
So either Joojoo is ripping off Apple, or Apple ripped off someone else and Joojoo is committing the same crime.
Think before you speak.
@Jack It may be less functional, but they're all competing in an emerging market making it good competition.
@Jake88
Way to side-step your own ignorant comment.
Would would have done better by just keeping your mouth shut.
@GadgetGeezer Umm I'm actually referring to the iPad interface. Here read this:
http://www.macnn.com/articles/10/01/27/app.features.the.same.bookshelf.appearance/
I thought about my comment. Maybe you need to slow down yourself.
@GadgetGeezer You can read about it on the Washington Post as well.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/27/AR2010012704221.html
@Jake88
Like I said in my original reply, IF Apple is ripping someone else off, JooJoo is guilty of the same thing, as they have clearly ripped off Apple's method of showing multiple web pages. So you original comment is still rendered moot.
Also, using a bookshelf visualization to display books on a screen is not a huge stretch of the imagination. That background has actually been an optional background for iPhones since they were originally jailbroken to show apps sitting on shelves. So again, another person apparently ripped off someone else. Or maybe it's just that giving the appearance of books on a bookshelf is just so obvious that it's just a common idea and not necessarily a ripoff at all.
@GadgetGeezer
No matter how you spin it, the joojoo is an original device.
I'm sure there are other devices that show multiple pages in the same fashion as the way apple portrayed. Until you actually provide a citation as to who owns, or owned, the patent for displaying the multiple webpage display, your comments hold no grounds either.
Right now both devices are competing in similar markets being tablets and there is no definitive winner at this point.
On the book UI. It was clearly a non-obvious original idea. Unfortunately it appears that the inventor did not properly protect his IP, but that does not give any company the right to hire your employees and design the exact same thing. I honestly think Apple needs to re-evaluate their ethical business practice in the future.
The article from the Washington Post I provided supports my original comment at the time. Though you may not believe the joojoo is strong competition, I am of a different opinion and am entitled to it.
@Jake88
Oh, so I have to prove someone patented the web page display, but you can just shrug off any such support for the bookshelf and claim some poor guy just forgot to protect his work?
How convenient.
The original point I made is that at the very least, both have UI aspects that originated on other devices., which completely counters your claim that the JooJoo is all original and Apple is a big rip-off. There's not need for patent evidence to support that.
It's even worse when you consider the book app is just one small part of a much larger and complex UI. Whereas the JooJoo, which is entirely web-based, uses a borrowed multi-page display as a major foundation for it's entire UI.
So who's ripping off someone else more?
By the way, in your last post, your second sentence counters you first sentence. You can't say it uses something from another device and claim it's original.
@GadgetGeezer
"Oh, so I have to prove someone patented the web page display"
Yes, it would add some credibility to what you're spouting. It's not convenient, it's good practice.
What I was trying to say, is that the display of multiple webpages is trivial period, end of story. Sorry if it sounded like I was contradictin myself there. But again, the joojoo is an original device in my opinion. That includes more than just the UI.
Who's ripping off who more joojoo vs. apple? I don't care.
Apple ripping off other hardworking developers, I CARE. You should too if you value and take pride in your work.
@ZeroCorpse
You don't get why the iPad exists. Jobs surmises, correctly IMO, that the problem with tablets is that they were too complicated to become popular for anybody besides hardcore nerds.
The iPad is SIMPLE. And that is INTENTIONAL. Why would anybody in their right mind want to upgrade an iPad? It's a basic appliance, like a refrigerator. It's something you can pick up, get email, browse the web, do some basic writing or run some apps, and then put down again.
That's it. It's not intended to be a replacement for a computer. I thought that had been made abundantly clear by this point, but I guess not. The only way in which this would actually replace a laptop is if you're currently using a laptop as a machine to do casual tasks anywhere in your house.
The concept of what the iPad is intended to do still seems to be eluding a lot of people. You guys understand that the iPad has ONE MONTH of standby time, right? There's a reason for that. The best use for it is to pick it up when you want to check email or a web site, or browse, or do any of the other things you can do with it, and then put it down.
Simple. And nobody cares if you don't like that, you don't have to buy one. Or is that concept too difficult for you too?
@hj
be...cause it's an article about Joojoo? OH NOES THE WORD iPAD IS IN THIS ARTICLE. Suck it up, you baby.
Well now people, you can always wait for second/third generation of the ipad. First gen is always lacks of feature.
I love how all these toolbag haters are suddenly praising a product for only doing a short list of thing while all week they were whining about the iPad not being all things to all people.
Just get over it already and pop your mamma's tit back in your mouth,
@FrankJ
Ok, so this gadget ISN'T a crippled piece of shit? It's does less than the iPad for the same price!!
Jesus, are you so blind???
And not one comment about the thicker than iPad bezel? Typical....