Why we needed the Crunchpad so badly? [Opinion]
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I’m sure, by now you all have heard the news of the end of Crunchpad. If not, here’s a quick update. Michael Arrington and his team at Techcrunch were working on a tablet style touchscreen computer along with Fusion Garage and were tantalizingly close to launching it by the end of this year. It was expected to retail for less than $400 and would include all the basic features that you can expect from such a device. Remember, it is not a laptop or a notebook replacement, Crunchpad was designed to be a 12-inch tablet device to browse the internet. Now because of some differences between Arrington and Fusion Garage, Arrington reports that they have been tricked out of the project. Fusion Garage is going solo with the device and would sell it under a different name. 
Although, we only have Arrington’s side of the story, I am upset about the “death” of Crunchpad. Not that I was dying to buy one, but the end of Crunchpad spells bad news for the consumers and the industry. Here’s why…
Internet tablet devices seem to be receiving fair bit of attention. Apple is rumored to be working on a similar device (an extended iPhone). Microsoft is working on Courier, its version of a tablet device. So, if we already have the two biggies developing tablet devices, you would argue why we need Crunchpad.
Precisely because we have two BIGGIES developing such devices, we need a countervailing force. The Apple tablet is rumored to sell around (or upwards of) $1500. Microsoft Courier is rumored to sell for over $700. Given these prices, a $400 Crunchpad really looks attractive. Whether, we really need another device to connect to the Internet is a different question altogether. Given that we are bound to have these devices in the near future, at least we would want them to be “usable”.
Do you really want a $1500 device to connect to the internet? I am all for competition – it brings out the best for the consumers. Arrington with his media muscle was just about the right person to be involved in Crunchpad. At $400, (although on a higher side) it was a reasonable price for such a device. Any tablet device would have had to consider Crunchpad in their strategy. May be Crunchpad would have forced both Apple and Microsoft to reconsider their pricing strategies (remember, what Android did to Apple). While, Fusion Garage may still come up with their version of the tablet device, it will not have the support of Crunch network and that takes away a lot of thunder from the device. Not only did Arrington (and his team) bought technical inputs to the table, they had valuable support from Venture Capitalists, other media companies, channel partners, suppliers, etc. Crunchpad, could truly have been a force to reckon with. Without all this, Fusion Garage backed tablet device looks like a non-starter and may not create a stir in the market.
So in the end, while Arrington and TC potentially lost a few million dollars, we as consumers lost much more cumulatively. Apple is now free to take the entire consumer surplus and make billions of dollars from its tablet device (whenever it comes).
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