Can the JooJoo (was CrunchPad) Compete with a $499 Price Tag?

Remember Mike Arrington (of TechCrunch fame) and his CrunchPad project? Its goal was to produce a $200 usable and useful tablet computer. Sounds cool so far, right. And, its price undercuts Apple’s cheapest iPad by $300. But, the project took a turn into the Twilight Zone in late 2009 when Arrington and his hardware partner (Fusion Garage) parted ways. I don’t claim to understand what happened but Arrington appears to have lost control of the project.