Just 90 People Preorder Doomed JooJoo Tablet, 15 Return It | Hacker News Reader

Just 90 People Preorder Doomed JooJoo Tablet, 15 Return It

wired.com

36 pointsjballanc15 comments

It should be noted that "return" isn't really the right word. No devices have actually shipped yet, so all the 15 people did was cancel their pre-order.

This is getting ridiculous. It's EVERY SINGLE wired.com headline. There is another one here about the bush administration wiretaps that says "Bush Illegally Wiretapped Americans." They constantly have the deniable "oh we were just shortening it!" but it's completely misleading. This actually implies people received and were dissatisfied with the product.

If you run a small blog and you use explosive headlines it's one thing, when you're wired it's kind of tacky.

Best reason for canceling order: "I was too afraid that guy would come in the box with it."

There were (and still are) two things kept me from being at all interested in the JooJoo.

The first is that the hardware design is ugly - the back of the device isn't very well thought-out, and looks like a cheap plasticky thing made by second or third-rate industrial designers.

The second is that the software seems like just some warmed-over thing based on X-Windows (a technical nightmare) and Linux, and that there's very little original stuff there, unlike the iPhone OS. No app store? Not interested.

It doesn't make sense to pay $500 just to browse the web via a Linux-based tablet, when the iPad does so much more.

The TouchBook looks like it might be a worthier contender: http://www.alwaysinnovating.com/touchbook/

Cheaper, at least, and can be used as an actual laptop as well. Its biggest weakness is that most of the interface is still clearly designed to be mouse-centric with touch as an afterthought. As much as I hate to buy into a walled garden, I don't think anything will catch up to iPad's UI/UX for several years at least.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tisD1FOEpfU

Please watch this video and then come back and tell me it's a worthy contender.

That looks really cool. I don't know how much of an afterthought touch is since you can clearly buy the device without the keyboard and mousepad.

So the JooJoo situation is this:

- it directly competes with a much anticipated product made by one the most successful hardware manufacturers in the world;

- it's released at the same time as the hype machine is in top gear for the above mentioned product; and

- to top it off, months before its release, it's involved in a scandal with one of the most influential tech bloggers, which means most news surrounding the product casts a shadow over the unknown company's reputation.

Even if it had a name that didn't imply something like a puddle of sludge, I think it would be a miracle if any product released under those circumstances succeeded. But good luck too them!

Michael Arrington is probably jumping for joy now that the JooJoo is pretty much doomed.

I doubt it. He's probably cursing the lameness of the whole thing. If the Crunchpad had come out 3 months earlier at $200, it'd have sold way more units. Probably still not enough to beat the iPad, but who knows...

And if it had come out five years ago and had cost $1 they would have sold millions of units. And beat the iPad, too.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=982758

(and many others in the thread had similar thoughts)

it would seem highly unlikely that they'd do well b4 the ipad launch -- people i think are hesitant to buy anything in this space at this point b4 trying the ipad at least. joojoo's opportunity will depend on a certain amount of people wanting a tablet doing something the ipad doesn't.

s/b4/before/g

Duke Nukem : Hardware Edition

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