David Flynn19 October 2009, 7:00 AM
Popular Mechanics magazine crowns the unreleased Crunchpad tablet as its ‘Breakthrough Product’ for 2009 – a sign that the affordable Linux tablet could be released by year’s end.
The November issue of US publication
Popular Mechanics has caused a stir by putting the
CrunchPad at the top of its list of the 10 Most Brilliant Products of 2009.
“Most breakthrough innovations make their greatest contributions when they become products people can buy”
the article begins. “Here, Popular Mechanics awards the top 10 most brilliant gadgets, tools and toys that you can buy in 2009.”
Which is all well and good, except that you can’t actually
buy the CrunchPad yet.
The acclaimed and anticipated touchscreen Web tablet, created as the pet project of TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington, has yet to be launched, and wasn’t even on display on the night of the awards’ official ceremony, dinner and product showcase.
The magazine has come in for its share of criticism – after all, how can a product which is still under wraps, hasn’t been released and thus effectively doesn’t exist, especially not a form which can be fully evaluated, be considered the single ‘most brilliant product’ of the year?
According to Popular Mechanics, the CrunchPad as a finished product simply didn’t make it in time to take centre stage – but given the criteria that award-winners must be gadgets “that you can buy in 2009”, this allows TechCrunch 10 weeks to get the CrunchPad out the door before year’s end.
It’s also speculated that
Popular Mechanics must have had some serious hands-on time with the CrunchPad in order to judge the product, which indicates that a finished product could be just weeks away.
Whatever happened behind the scenes, it’s certainly excellent publicity for the CrunchPad... although Apple’s imminent entry into the touchscreen Web tablet space will change the game entirely.
One the one hand, it will bring slicky-marketed mainstream competition to a space which Arrington undoubtedly hoped to have for himself.
By the same token, an Apple table would be more expensive and more tightly controlled than the CrunchPad, which is aiming for the US$300-400 mark and will run open-source Ubuntu Linux and be undoubtedly hack-friendly.
Apple’s own entree into the touch-tablet space would also service to ‘legitimise’ the CrunchPad and perhaps catapult it into wider press coverage.