A few days ago, we heard from TechCrunch’s very own Michael Arrington that the Crunchpad project was dead. Crunchpad was supposed to be an affordable Internet tablet for those who didn’t need something too fancy to surf the web. Crunchpad was expected to fill that void. We didn’t know too much about the details of this project but what was revealed, the device was yet another gadget that could do without. After all, there are so many similar products on the market that accomplish the very same tasks and more. And let’s not forget about Apple iPad which will be a fully-fledged tablet computer.

It turns out Crunchpad is not dead after all. It’s just not being sold with that name and doesn’t seem to have the backing of the people at TechCrunch behind it. The device will be called The Joo Joo, and while it may be doomed from the beginning, it’s still worth reporting that you can get your hands on one soon (December 11th).

The device is not cheap. It will cost you $500, the price of a brand new netbook plus some accessories. Let’s not forget that tablets of this kind are overrated. I get the point of buying a Nook or Kindle to read e-books. But buying a tablet to surf the Internet from your couch? Just another one trick pony device that we don’t need. The Joo Joo is not likely to survive for too long, but if it does, I don’t expect it to make a real splash. The device looks slick, but you can’t expect people to pay $500 for such one dimensional gadgets. I do believe that the device would have been doomed even with TechCrunch behind it.

Why by a Joo Joo when you can pick up a decent Netbook or CULV for the same price?