Who would have thought that Michael Arrington’s small science fair project would ever see the light of day? Color me impressed, and dead wrong a year later. With a heft of just 1.2 Kg and a 12″ screen, the CrunchPad is real, functional, and hopefully coming to market soon. The sooner the better, in fact. Of course, not even on the shelves it is drawing fire for its lack of internal storage. Bollocks. Any so called “pundit” who does not get what this device is for, should retire.
The complete lack of internal storage (and physical keyboard) are due to their, repeating my words, complete lack of necessity. To begin: the tablet is to use the internet, not to use MS Word. You have GoogleDocs, or any of a fistful of competitors to work on documents with. There is no need to have physical storage to do this. The CrunchPad is akin to a cloud-portal. It is a firm step against the local file storage structure that we have become so accustomed to.
Secondly, the keyboard issue is also a nonstarter. This computer is meant for a purpose: browsing the internet. This is not a workhorse. This is not a desktop replacement. This device will not replace your laptop. Instead it fills a seperate niche that has been long neglected. It is for the time in your coffee shop of choice, when you just want to catch up on the news, or just read email. If you want to listen to Pandora, or browse a video site. If you read blogs, it will your RSS reader of choice. For what parts of that do I need to type extensively, or let alone save anything locally?
No doubt when the CrunchPad is actually launched many so called technology-comprehenders are going to prematurely blow a load the wrong direction over the CrunchPad. Forget them, this device fits a very specific and useful niche. A large tip of the hat to my friends at TechCrunch.
