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"Looks like we're all indebted to HP in one way or another. Since the TouchPad fire sale began, we've seen a noticeable southward shift in tablet pricing -- it's as if iPad rivals finally figured out that battling on price was just about the only way to make a dent in Apple's enviable market share. Now, we're seeing Fusion Garage wipe a full $200 from its Grid 10 tablet... before the thing even ships."

Very interesting that they're dropping their prices before they've shipped a single tablet. Built on an Android kernel, Fusion Garage has built an OS for the tablet, calling it Grid OS. It will run Android apps, but, as of today has no access to the Android Market. According to Fusion Garage, their intention all along has been to price the tablet this aggressively, with some contractual obligations delaying the price drop. Now scheduled to arrive in North America about October 1, 2011, this price point may attract some buyers not wanting to ante up for an iPad, as well as impulse buyers.

"Earlier this summer, a company called TabCo burst onto the scene with videos, skywriting (yes, really), and the promise that it was "reinventing the wheel." What and who TabCo actually was, however, was still unknown. Until Monday, anyway.

A lot of cheesy, manufactured hype, and now (or September 15th), maybe a real device promoted from a possibly pre-recorded press conference. This may be a 10-inch tablet with 1366x768 resolution, 16GB storage, a Nvidia Tegra 2 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, 512MB RAM, weighing in at 690g. Their own OS is called GridOS, and is built on an Android kernel, with major UI tinkering, including an on-screen navigation wheel, that promises to baffle end users. Price for the WiFi only version will be $499, with a WiFi/3G model expected to cost $599.

The 16GB Grid 4 phone has a 4-inch screen with 800x480 resolution, and is expected to cost $399 unlocked. GridOS promises some synergy between tablet and phone, for example, playing video on the tablet, stopping it, and restarting it on the phone from the exact point where it stopped. PC Mag promises a full review if and when the products are actually in their hands. Skeptical? Yes I am.

"Fusion Garage told us yesterday that its Joojoo tablet is at "its end of life" and that it is working on several new devices to be released next year. The new devices will have new hardware and will run on a new Android-based operating system developed by Fusion Garage."

Photo Credit: Engadget

I think Fusion Garage should have called their tablet "Fruitfly" instead, because it had the lifespan of one. There's one lesson to be learned here as the opening round of the tablet wars open: everyone is tossing out products, but unless you want to have an orphaned product, you should be careful about what you invest in.