Fusion Garage says JooJoo tablet is on track for Feb. launch

The Technology Chronicles : Fusion Garage says JooJoo tablet is on track for Feb. launch: "Back before the big Apple iPad frenzy began, Garage Fusion made waves late last year by introducing the JooJoo tablet and also parting company with TechCrunch's Michael Arrington, who was collaborating on a tablet with Fusion Garage.

Fusion Garage founder and CEO, Chandrasekar Rathakrishnan said last night the JooJoo tablet is in production and is on track to hit its launch window of late February.

The big deal for Fusion Garage is that they're not only scheduled to beat the iPad to market but they have also lined up a unique funding and partnership arrangement with CSL, a Maylasian hardware manufacturer.

CSL won't make the Joojoo, but it will front the cost of the tablet and will take a percentage of the sales. It's also becoming a strategic investor in Fusion Garage as part of its upcoming second round of funding.

'CSL will pick up the cost for manufacturing and get a percentage of the sales,' said Rathakrishnan. 'This basically eliminates all up front costs for us. They believe in this product and that it will ship in large volumes.'

The bigger question is how the $499 Joojoo will sell against Apple's iPad, which starts at $499 and will go on sale by the end of March. Rathakrishnan, for his part, is not scared.

He said Fusion Garage will beat Apple to market and will benefit from the awareness Apple brings with its iPad. Orders and inquiries, he said, have gone up since the Apple announcement.

Rathakrishnan said JooJoo will carve out its own audience with its bigger 12-inch screen, Flash support and full web experience.

'We're not worried,' he said. 'We're definitely providing better value for the money. There's no question, Apple will take a good chunk of market share but the market is big enough for a number of players.'"