[smidwap]

My ignorance will show here, but I would imagine engineering one of those devices is nothing trivial (duh), let alone something that a small company could afford. I wasn't even aware that TechCrunch developed consumer products. Can someone enlighten me on how a company such as TechCrunch can reasonably expect to design, develop, and sell (they have 2/3 of those down) a tablet (netbook) and profit? There are seemingly high barriers to entry in such a market, are there not? Just curious!

[luckystrike]

Just in case you are not aware about it, here is how this 'venture' started:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/21/we-want-a-dead-simple-w...

Updates:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/30/update-on-the-techcrunc...

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/19/techcrunch-tablet-updat...

[akd]

They use a company called an ODM (Original Design Manufacturer). These companies can, for different prices, do everything from design a tablet PC off a single phone call to simply building something exactly to your CAD drawings.

This is why all computers (Dells, HPs, etc, not sure what Apple does) are manufactured by a handful of companies (Solectron, Flextronics) which actually run the Chinese factories.

[c3o]

This company does the software: http://www.fusiongarage.com/blog/