If there were doubts about Fusion Garage's viability before, I think the news today confirms things. Reported first by Gizmodo (gizmodo.com/5505724/joojoo-tablet-court-docs-show-... ) and confirmed by Engadget (www.engadget.com/2010/03/30/more-bad-juju-for-jooj... ), FG has sold ~75 units (90 devices, less 15 returns, as reported in the subpoenaed documents). To put that in perspective, most products of any kind (especially consumer electronics) tend to sell the most during their launch; usually the further you get from launch, the older a product seems, and the less appealing of a purchase it is.
I'd also toss out an estimate that even a fairly low profile company without the kind of coverage and highly publicized back story as Fusion Garage is probably capable of moving a few thousand units early on. So 75 sales is shockingly low for this -- or any -- launch. (Then again, given the doubts many have had about FG, maybe it's not that shocking.) To quote my pal Brian from Giz: "the number might as well be zero."
For Fusion Garage, that means about $37.5k gross revenue; given the low margins in this category and bill of goods / cost of production / shipping / tax / etc., I'd be shocked if they walked away from their launch with more than $10k in the bank.
Of course, it's worth noting that it is not unusual for a startup to burn money for months, sometimes even years, before achieving profitability (hey, just look at TiVo -- they've still yet to turn a consistent profit). But Fusion Garage walked right out in front of the Apple train at precisely the wrong moment. In fact, I'd go so far as to call the timing on their announcement the stuff of legend. Couple this with the promise of Chrome OS based tablets devices coming later this year from companies with the ability to leverage economies of scale, and I personally just do not see how these guys will make it.
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Now would be a good time to get a refund
I hope that this small startup company does succeed. Competition is very important. Also for a startup to sell hardware like that for 500 bucks at launch is probably difficult. They most likely dont have the money to order in bulk (say 1 million units), they could probably sell it for A LOT less if they were able to pump these things out of a slave driving Foxconn factory.
You make the JooJoo 250 to 300 bucks and all the sudden this thing is an extremely compelling device.
Hell, forget crunchpad, how bout gdgt1
You make the JooJoo 250 to 300 bucks and all the sudden this thing is an extremely compelling device.
Hell, forget crunchpad, how bout gdgt1
It just totally missed the point as a product. It was meant to be a budget tablet for browsing the web and to fill in the gap in the consumer space that had been left by a want for a tablet device. It just kept going up in price and getting delayed until it finally ended up making what would have been a pretty hard sell anyway, pretty much impossible with the launch of the iPad.
The launch of the iPad is part of what killed the JooJoo. That and the fact that I can't walk into Office Depot and buy one. Or even order it from Amazon. I have to order it direct from Fusion Garage, a company that, for all I know, could go under any minute now.
If I could have bought it at Office Depot, I probably would have bought one to tell Apple what I think of them. The last thing I want is to lock myself into their closed system. Microsoft is bad enough ("This company hasn't paid their protection fees, so we don't recommend installing this product").
If I could have bought it at Office Depot, I probably would have bought one to tell Apple what I think of them. The last thing I want is to lock myself into their closed system. Microsoft is bad enough ("This company hasn't paid their protection fees, so we don't recommend installing this product").
If there were only 90 orders placed, what's the point of telling people they should be returning the device?
It was a niche product at best. I see no reason why this information would hurt its ability to be a good niche product. I'll wait for a real review...
Also you see the iPad as being the reason this product will fail, but really, the iPad is the only reason this device ever had any chance. The iPad is getting people to think about tablets and use tablets; it has created the market. People WILL realize the iPad doesn't have flash and will be looking for tablets that can handle it. It might be a small market, but there's gonna be other internet tablets. I don't see why chrome os would be any better than what's on the joojoo now...
It was a niche product at best. I see no reason why this information would hurt its ability to be a good niche product. I'll wait for a real review...
Also you see the iPad as being the reason this product will fail, but really, the iPad is the only reason this device ever had any chance. The iPad is getting people to think about tablets and use tablets; it has created the market. People WILL realize the iPad doesn't have flash and will be looking for tablets that can handle it. It might be a small market, but there's gonna be other internet tablets. I don't see why chrome os would be any better than what's on the joojoo now...
Poor comprehension skills much?
You're talking about the market for content. I was talking about the market for the tablet hardware. Apple has created this market with the iPad and the hype surrounding it. Other tablets will be able to piggyback off of the hype that Apple has created and will be able to sell some number of tablets that offer certain things the iPad doesn't. These other tablets obviously aren't going to move iPad numbers, but they don't have to.
You're talking about the market for content. I was talking about the market for the tablet hardware. Apple has created this market with the iPad and the hype surrounding it. Other tablets will be able to piggyback off of the hype that Apple has created and will be able to sell some number of tablets that offer certain things the iPad doesn't. These other tablets obviously aren't going to move iPad numbers, but they don't have to.
I agree with dssstrkl - I think this device is DOA unless it can be rejigged to work with Chrome OS. There is no future in an expensive device with a bespoke OS made by a tiny company.
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There was always way too much against this machine. Both FG and Arrington are pretty shady, but the lawsuit probably scared off most people who were interested. Also, US $500 for what is basically a mobile web browser? That's a lot to ask. The only reason why people are excited about the iPad is because its a general purpose computer that happens to include a best in class web browser and a known, good touch experience. Then there's the expectation of Chrome OS devices, which might include tablet devices.
Its too bad because the Joojoo is actually a nice-looking piece of kit. I don't think FG can survive, but maybe someone will buy them and re-release it as a Chrome device later.
Its too bad because the Joojoo is actually a nice-looking piece of kit. I don't think FG can survive, but maybe someone will buy them and re-release it as a Chrome device later.
Well, I just don't know how much stock to put into those PayPal docs -- first, I have no idea why they appeared today in breaking news fashion when they're over a month old, were generated by an adverse party in a lawsuit, and have been part of the public record since they were first issued. Second, as Ryan points out, sales and revenue aren't the whole story of a company -- Fusion Garage says they have investors, and they've got to be paying for production somehow. What's more, we've certainly made Fusion Garage's PR people work extra hard, and there's no countersuit, so their lawyers aren't on contingency -- if Chandra somehow managed to talk himself into getting both a top-flight PR staff and legal team for free, you'd think he'd have managed to sell more than 90 JooJoos.
All that said, the proof's going to be in the pudding, and I don't necessarily think the market has been clamoring for what's essentially a last-gen Ion-based Linux netbook without a keyboard. In fact, I think the iPad will be proof-positive that that's exactly what the market doesn't want -- but I honestly can't wait to find out.
All that said, the proof's going to be in the pudding, and I don't necessarily think the market has been clamoring for what's essentially a last-gen Ion-based Linux netbook without a keyboard. In fact, I think the iPad will be proof-positive that that's exactly what the market doesn't want -- but I honestly can't wait to find out.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but those filings are from over a month ago. A lot of pre-orders probably came in since then. Keep in mind that this is a new product from a company that no one has ever heard of, the product would have to be in market for some time so people could become comfortable with it before they adopt it.
Maybe this was a blessing in disguise, for Techcrunch to be able to be separate from this...
