It wasn't all that long ago (last year) that I was reading of the Crunchpad idea coming out of Techcrunch.  On Friendfeed, there was always a lot of fun discussions and playful banter between Robert Scoble and Michael Arrington and a lot of mention of the Crunchpad project in the prototyping stages.

Of course, since then, there's been a bit of acrimony between Arrington and Fusion Garage, who've taken the concept, removed the Techcrunch involvement and remarketed the Crunchpad as the JooJoo.

Arrington is now suing Fusion Garage.

I'm trying to imagine how the Crunchpad/JooJoo would be if the partnership had remained, what sort of impact Arrington would have had if he were still involved and whether he'd have asked for some features in the pad that would have competed better against the iPad.

As it is, as the JooJoo is currently promoted, I'm scratching my head on whether it really is a worthy competitor to the iPad.

It's a dog-eat-dog world in business, but what happened with the Crunchpad project wouldn't exactly make me feel happy buying from Fusion Garage.

Then there's the way the JooJoo is in tech terms.  Effectively it's wi-fi only at the moment.  There's some talk of Fusion Garage partnering with telecommunications companies to perhaps get something akin to 3G on it.  It has 4GB of space on it.  It's 16:9 aspect in a 12.5 inch diagonal size.  And really, all it does is access the web for pretty much all its apps.

While I like my web access, there's some times I like to turn wi-fi and 3G off and just run a few things offline.  So really, if the JooJoo is ALL internet, I'd be disappointed.  Eventually it's going to be possible for us to have full cloud access, but not at this fledgling stage of a lot of the key technologies.  There's still a point to having some things still available offline.

So in reality, the JooJoo is just an over-sized web browser.  Interestingly easy solution, I suppose, but a bit lazy in development terms.  Google and Chrome OS would probably still do it a lot better.

I've yet to read what else the min-Linux system the JooJoo runs off actually does apart from that.

So my iPad still has more real app capability than a JooJoo.  It's also got a few decent programs that will keep me occupied if my wi-fi suddenly goes off.

The size and aspect ratio...I'm a firm believer in the idea that a good tablet is at its best at 4:3.  I find my iPad comfortable at that aspect ratio.  The more I keep looking at any tablet which is 16:9, I try to imagine cradling such an aspect ratio in my arms.  I think Apple hit the sweet spot with the 4:3 aspect.  A nine-and-a-bit inch screen isn't bad.  Sort of A4-ish and large bookish.  Anything much bigger gets cumbersome.

Do I think the JooJoo is serious competition to the iPad, or just trying to ride on the iPad's coat-tails?

The latter.

Perhaps if they'd kept Arrington in the loop, it might have been a better pad/tablet.  Arrington's still closer to the pulse of where tech is going.

As it stands, I doubt I'd buy a JooJoo.

In this case, iPad by a clear knockout.

Would readers find a JooJoo an alternative to the iPad?  Let's hear your own thoughts.

My partner Maria got a very special Mother's Day present today...full access to the family iPad for most of the day.

And Moses proceeded to come down from the mountain with the tablet in hand...

Or in this case, Steve Jobs did.

I watched the video of the announcement and contrasted it to Steve Balmer's announcement of a slate computer a few weeks back.  I have to say I'm more impressed with Steve Jobs.

Of course, the expectations for the iPad are various.  Some are happy with it, some have been expecting something different. There are also some jokes starting, like calling the iPhone an iPad Nano...

Let's remember this is the first iteration.  The next one will obviously add more features once Steve Jobs and Apple see the reaction to it.  Let's also remember it competes more directly against the Kindle.

When it comes to that, it's already a winner.

Of course, what sets it apart in my mind is that it will have a new iWork suite of apps ready for it.  Imagine REAL word-processing, spreadsheets and presentation software, as opposed to limited rtf variants.  Add that to the iPad and you've got a great portable tool.

The medical field will see an immediate benefit to it, since references will be more easily-readable on the iPad than on the iPhone.

I'm looking at it from an artistic perspective.  I've tried drawing apps on the iPhone and that's not the iPhone's strong suit.  You can't move your finger off a line on the iPhone, else you lose exact placing.

No, an iPad makes drawing with your finger a heck of a lot easier and more precise.

While I did favor WinMobile devices for their ease of drawing with a stylus, I hated having to draw in zoom so much on the small screen space.

So the iPad is already on my shopping list.

Will I be an early adopter?  Or will I wait till version 2?

That's already decided by my family.  The partner and the nine-year-old have already decided the issue.

Early adoption by a mile.

And besides, you need someone to play with that first iteration and tell you how it's going.

End of story.

UPDATE:  It seems there's some news of the iPad requiring a micro-sim.  More on that over at www.geehall1.com