CSL JooJoo Internet tablet

LOCAL mobile device OEM (original equipment manufacturer) and distribution company CSL Group has landed the job in manufacturing the JooJoo Internet tablet.

The JooJoo, which started out as an idea by popular technology blog TechCrunch’s founder Mike Arrington, has moved into full production, CSL said.

The device’s name comes from the African word “joujou,” which means magical device. It is designed by Singapore-based Fusion Garage.

According to CSL chief operating office Mike Tee, the first batch of about 3,000 units will be ready for shipping to the United States as early as the end of this month.

Malaysians will be able to get their hands on the device by May, Tee told In.Tech. However, he declined to reveal more details or how much it would cost here.

Currently, Fusion Garage is only accepting pre-orders in the United States. Each JooJoo tablet is being sold for US$499 (RM1,667).

As things stand, the slim and trendy-looking JooJoo will surely draw comparisons to Apple’s iPad.

The JooJoo has a much larger 12.1in capacitive touchscreen that has a 1,366 x 768-pixel resolution. It runs on a Linux-based operating system.

There are no buttons on the device, save for the single power switch.

The basic specifications include 4GB of solid state memory, WiFi, Bluetooth, an accelerometer, a built-in camera, mic and speakers as well as one USB port. The device also supports USB and Bluetooth keyboards.

According to various reports on the Internet, everything on the JooJoo is done in a browser window. The web browser supports Flash and other standard HTML extensions but it will not run non-web applications.

CSL, which was established in 1998, has rapidly grown to a major conglomerate with sales of nearly US$300mil (RM1bil). It is one of the largest manufacturers of mobile phones, mobile devices, netbooks and notebook computers in South-East Asia.

According to CSL, the strategic relationship it has with Fusion Garage calls for CSL to absorb all the manufacturing costs associated with JooJoo production up front.

In exchange, CSL will receive a revenue royalty from each JooJoo sold globally.

Additionally, CSL has also made a strategic venture investment in Fusion Garage, which will help the company to move to the next phase of its corporate growth and product development.

Fusion Garage will market the JooJoo in the United States and Europe while CSL will be the sole distributor in South-East Asia.

JooJoos sold in this region will carry the “Powered by CSL” tag.

Tags: accelerometer, african word, company, conglomerate, CSL, device, distribution company, Europe, Fusion, Garage, html extensions, Joojoo, joujou, magical device, Malaysians, Mike Arrington, Mike Tee, mobile device, Netbooks, notebook computers, original equipment manufacturer, power switch, Singapore, solid state, south east asia, state memory, touchscreen, United States, US, web applications

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 6th, 2010 at 4:29 pm and is filed under Gadgets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.