(Credit:
CherryPal)
Last we reported, the launch of the CherryPal PC was very much up in the air. As Engadget notes, CherryPal has updated its shopping page for this tiny, cloud-computing PC with two important items.
1. The CherryPal PC will ship on election day, November 4. "Guaranteed!!!" it says on the CherryPal Web site, with three exclamation points. To prove it's serious about that 11/4 ship date, the model number has changed from C100 to C114.
2. The capacity of the CherryPal's flash drive has doubled. Once and future orders will get 8GB of storage. The price stays the same: $249.
Elsewhere on the company's Web site, it notes that the CherryPal PC will feature a slimmer casing. The system weighs 10 ounces and measures 5.8 inches deep, 4.2 inches wide, and 1.3 inches high.
The additional space is nice, but the revolutionary idea behind the product stays the same. Instead of storing your apps and docs locally as you do on your PC's hard drive, you'll store them on CherryPal's servers in the cloud that is the Internet. With no moving parts and fewer components, the CherryPal PC promises to be cheaper, greener, and easier to manage than a traditional PC. The PC doesn't include a traditional operating system; instead, the CherryPal PC uses Firefox as its main interface. The company will reportedly offer 50GB of password-protected online storage space with each purchase.
(Credit:
CherryPal, Inc.)
The CherryPal PC is in a holding pattern. The $249, 10-ounce, 2-watt-drawing, cloud-computing PC we first spied in July is still at least a couple weeks away from materializing. The company tells TG Daily that problems with the graphics hardware has pushed back its ship date at least two weeks. This follows on the heels of the company delaying the original August release due to a software conflict with the system's solid-state storage.
The irony here is that hardware and software issues have delayed this tiny PC that has only the bare minimum of hardware and software. The CherryPal C100 desktop has no moving parts--the company claims it "uses 80 percent fewer components than a traditional PC." There's not even an operating system; you're meant to store your data in the cloud, which you access via Firefox--the system's main interface.
On the company's Web site, its shopping page simply states that the CherryPal is "on hold" (from August 6) and offers a refund for those who have pre-ordered the system.
A view of the new CherryPal from the back
(Credit: CherryPal)The CherryPal is a small, black, rectangular box with not much inside.
Besides a processor, some flash memory, and some connecting parts, it's definitely not the kind of computer you'd see heavyweights like Hewlett-Packard and Dell waving around. But Max Seybold, the creator and CEO of CherryPal says this barebones PC is the future.
Yes, we've been hearing for a while now that cloud computing and the browser are the next iteration of the desktop OS, but Seybold is betting big on it.
The CherryPal--so named because one early tester declared the device "sweeter than an Apple"--is a tiny desktop PC. It's about the size of a paperback book and weighs 10 ounces. Because of its lack of moving parts (there's only 256MB of memory and a 4GB flash drive inside; the rest of your data is meant to be kept in the cloud), it should be fairly durable.
The other major benefit of that is it sucks a very low amount of power, 2 watts max, Seybold says. It has a Freescale 5121E processor and integrated graphics, which helps out with lower power consumption.
But even more helpful is the lack of an operating system on the device. There is an embedded form of Debian Linux, but Seybold says the user isn't exposed to it. The main operating system is a Firefox browser window.
It comes with free cloud-based storage and free 24-hour tech support. Hardware-wise, there's not a lot to the CherryPal, but the price reflects that: it will be available starting Monday for $249 on the company's Web site, and in September via Amazon.com.
The Amazon availability reflects the company's ambition. Seybold says he sees his target market as students ages 14 to 25, who he says "are already used to putting their information in the cloud" via Facebook, MySpace, and similar kinds of sites.
Downplaying Linux is another way Seybold hopes to reach the mass market. There's a perception that Linux is hard to use and is somewhat of a drawback, he said. "And to some degree, the market is right."
The closest competition is the Eee Box from Asus, and other low-power Linux-based desktops, which have cleared the way for devices like the CherryPal.
"The great thing is you have Netboxes (and) Netbooks, so there's a lot of awareness in the market, and (it shows) there is a market for computers that aren't Windows or Apple," said Seybold. "The sales numbers for Asus are very, very, encouraging."
- prev
- 1
- next
