RIP CrunchPad

The CrunchPad (the picture from the left sourced from TechCrunch), a product collaboration between TechCrunch and Fusion Garage has been one of the achievements hailed by many here in Singapore, giving hope that there might be something finally to go beyond Creative against Apple (where they lost the mp3 player war). However, we just received word from TechCrunch with the announcement from Michael Arrington making the declaration: “It’s a sad day at TechCrunch HQ. Hitting the publish button on this post, which makes all of this so…final…is a very hard thing to do. I’m enraged, embarrassed, and just…sad. The CrunchPad is now in the DeadPool.”. We review what has happened from the expose written by Mike Arrington

Update: This story is still ongoing. You can view updates here, here, here and here.

• Shareholders of Fusion Garage do not want to work with Mike Arrington & TechCrunch: According to Michael Arrington and in his own words, “the entire project self destructed over nothing more than greed, jealousy and miscommunication.” He pointed out one reason that led to the collapse of the deal is that the shareholders on Fusion Garage side is pressuring Chandra to move forward and sell the device directly through Fusion Garage, without the involvement of TechCrunch. If the story is exactly the way how Arrington put it (as we need to give the benefit of doubt to his claims too), we should be asking, “What the hell the shareholders from Fusion Garage are thinking?” We are pretty convinced that TechCrunch and Mike Arrington will add much brand equity for CrunchPad to take off in the US and perhaps even subsequently to the rest of the world. We must remember a local example of ours, Creative had superior technology (compared to other portable music players) but fell behind on savvy marketing skills, which led to another dominating the space.




• The whole mess will now go with who owns the intellectual property of CrunchPad: From reading the article, given the collaboration between both Fusion Garage and TechCrunch, the issue of who owns the intellectual property is going to bring about lawsuits. According to Mike Arrington, there are three versions of the prototype developed so far between both teams: “Neither we nor Fusion Garage own the intellectual property of the CrunchPad outright… Development expenses have been shared, and our team has spent time in Singapore and Taiwan, and their team has spent time here. We chose to work with Fusion Garage on Prototype C and the launch prototype after we finished Prototype B internally.” Yes, we did meet the TechCrunch people who were here a few months back. It’s sad that the whole project has gone south.




• The media will not be on Fusion Garage’s side: Given the influence of TechCrunch in the web/tech space, it will be interesting to see how Fusion Garage is going to put their spin to why the deal failed. What’s interesting to take note is that Mike Arrington recently got a CEO fired based on the ScamVille incident. TechCrunch will probably deal the killer blow even if Fusion Garage changed their minds now.




• What is Fusion Garage’s Story?: After all, we have read the story from Mike Arrington’s side and not from Chandra Rathakrishnan (CEO of Fusion Garage, previously of Velvet Puffin). We are now trying to reach Fusion Garage for further comment and hope to hear their side of the story.

Do let us know your thoughts and comments on the issue.

Update 1: One of our contacts at Fusion Garage has responded to confirm that they will part ways with TechCrunch, but that the CEO, Chandra will respond on behalf of the company very soon. Let’s wait to hear what he has to say.

Update 2: CrunchPad partner plans media event – San Francisco Business Times. According to the news, Chandrasekar Rathakrishnan, founder and CEO of Fusion Garage, will do a video call and in private briefings scheduled for later Monday next week at the St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco with the whole PR handled by San Jose-based McGrath/Power Public Relations. Looks like more will be unfold in the weeks to come.

Update 3: Mike Arrington (TechCrunch), in response to the upcoming press conference, have prepared the litigation materials to sue Fusion Garage.

Update 4 (Feb 4th 2010): This story is still ongoing. You can view updates here, here, here, here and here.

Image of fire courtesy of Stacirl.

Related Links:
- TodayOnline

Related posts:

1. Fusion Garage Strikes Back: From CrunchPad to JooJoo
2. This Week in Asia Episode 5: The CrunchPad Disaster
3. The Joo Joo Delay And A Summary Of The Legal Wrangle With TechCrunch
4. Fusion Garage vs iPad, New Partnership with Mobile Player in SEA and New Funding Round
5. TWIA Episode 6: The MOL & Friendster Marriage