Fusion Garage unveils the Joo Joo touch screen tablet

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Fusion Garage, the company embroiled in a bitter dispute with TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington, this morning unveiled its Joo Joo wireless touch-screen tablet.

Joo Joo, an African term that means magical, boasts a 12.1-inch capacitor touch-screen tablet capable of booting up in nine seconds, according to Fusion Garage Chief Executive Chandrasekar Rathakrishnan, during a Web conference.

Designed to let users wirelessly browse the Internet, the device has just one button -- the power switch. Users navigate via Joo Joo’s touch screen, much the way iPhone users dial, browse or play games on their device.

Rathakrishnan said his company will start taking pre-orders on its website for the $499 gizmo on Friday and aimed to ship the devices eight to 10 weeks hence.

Interest in Web tablet devices gained steam this year when numerous rumors surfaced about Apple developing such a device. Apple has not commented on the rumors, but much of the speculation involves the ability to do much of what Joo Joo promises: Let users browse the Web, access e-mail, listen to streaming music, check their social media or read books and articles.

Rathakrishnan, in a Web conference during which he also answered charges of theft and betrayal lobbed last week by Arrington, hinted that his company was working with several publishers to provide custom content for the device but declined to identify them.

In a phone interview following the press conference, Rathakrishnan said Joo Joo would weigh 2.4 pounds. The most expensive component is the capacitor touch-screen, which has a screen resolution of 1366 by 768 pixels, sufficient to display high definition video.

He also disputed Arrington’s assertions that the device could have been made for less than $200. ‘There are dreams, and then there’s reality,’ Rathakrishnan said.

-- Alex Pham

Updated, 4:55 pm: This post has been updated to include an image of the tablet and comments from a Times interview with Chandrasekar Rathakrishnan.

Image of Joo Joo tablet courtesy of Fusion Garage.

Follow my random thoughts on games, gear and technology on Twitter @AlexPham.