The Engadget Interview: Fusion Garage's Chandra Rathakrishnan

The most telling moment of our conversation with Chandra Rathakrishnan came at the end, just before the recording device shut off. The interview wrapped, and we politely thanked the Fusion Garage CEO for taking the time to speak with us. "Thank you for taking the time," he echoed, adding, "And for giving us another chance." Rathakrishnan never goes so far as to use the word "failure" to describe the company's poorly received JooJoo tablet -- at least not during the course of our interview -- but it seems clear that he harbors few illusions with regards to what the device truly was: a misfire. A grandiose experiment that was rushed out the door far too fast, with far too few resources.

The device's origins weren't all that pretty, either. The company teamed up with TechCrunch to offer up a $200 internet tablet dubbed the CrunchPad -- a plan that soon soured, with the two parting ways on a less-than-positive note. Fusion Garage rebranded the CrunchPad the JooJoo, and began a long journey of delays and price hikes. Despite its best efforts, it missed the boat, failing to release the device ahead of Apple's industry shaping iPad. When the 4GB tablet finally hit the market, it carried a $499 price tag -- more than double its initial utopian target.

Read on for the full interview.

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The Engadget Interview: Fusion Garage's Chandra Rathakrishnan originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Aug 2011 15:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/16/the-engadget-interview-fusion-garages-chandra-rathakrishnan/

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