Michael Arrington of Techcrunch posted an update to his Tablet project today.  Here are two videos he posted demonstrating the device...

Now before going any further I have to give him and everyone involved credit for getting this to a prototype.  I'll be the first to admit I didn't think it would actually get there and it's a great accomplishment for them to have done it.   With that said I'm completely split on this and I'll tell you why...

Side #1: The Positive Side

Tablets are expensive.  The cheapest tablet PC you'll generally find is the Fujitsu Lifebook and it hovers at about the $850-$900 range.  So what the Techcrunch tablet offers isn't commercially available. 

Also, being the device would have a full browser you could make the argument that there are usage cases where it could compete with larger devices like TabletPCs.  With more businesses using web based applications something like this would work everywhere from medical settings to industrial sites.  Basically any place where it would be nice to carry around information but you don't want to risk a $1,600 TabletPC.

Side #2: The Negative Side

Having said the above there are two things that make me wonder about this project.  First among them is you can get a netbook from Asus with a whole OS and built in applications for only $39 more than what the Techcrunch Tablet would cost when built.   In some ways that's comparing Apples to Oranges but in saying that you have to realize the orange (aka the Asus netbook) can do everything the Apple can and much more (albeit less competently with a smaller screen and no touch ability).

Second, and this goes to the netbook point, I'm not sure there's much interest for this type of product.  You have to remember the OLPC project announced an all touchscreen PC in May of last year.  Meaning even if companies like Asus had just miraculously not thought of this idea they had it thrust into their face 8 months ago.  Yet, to the best of my knowledge, none of them are pursuing it. 

Even though the engineering would be relatively simple (touchscreen manufacturers provide drivers meaning most of the engineering would be done by simply building a case that grafts the touchscreen onto existing netbook hardware).  That really does beg the question of "why?" and that's certainly a question I'd be asking before pursuing this (Jack Schofield has a nice piece on this)

Finally, there's my issues with "finger based computing" in general which are a post in themselves (a post I already made here).

Conclusion

Yeah...I really don't have one.   That's sort of what "being split" on a subject means :)

But if forced  to come up with something I'd say this.  From a consumer perspective it looks cool and I'd almost certainly buy one at $299.  But if I were in Mr. Arrington's shoes I probably wouldn't take a chance on this.  It's a lot of effort for a market that seemingly doesn't exist and if by some chance it was successful it would be very easy for the consumer electronics brands to swoop in and steal the market from you.  

Addendum: As more posts have popped up on this you're hearing a lot of the "This is just a netbook with a touch screen and that's why it would fail" argument.  That might seem like the same argument I'm making above but it isn't.  What I'm trying to say above is that, from a marketing perspective, people will think that (hence all the blog posts saying it).  But in reality the argument doesn't hold much weight since both represent different usage models.  Form factor really does determine usage and the netbook is more like a laptop while the tablet is more like a portable tv or a clipboard (depending on the use)