Cherrypal

Cherrypal was a California-based marketer of Chinese-manufactured consumer-oriented computers. It marketed a range of models with a diversity of CPU-types, structures, features, and operating systems. In 2018, Cherrypal let their domain name registration lapse, indicating that the company is no longer in business.

Cherrypal was a California-based marketer of Chinese-manufactured consumer-oriented computers. It marketed a range of models with a diversity of CPU-types, structures, features, and operating systems. In 2018, Cherrypal let their domain name registration lapse, indicating that the company is no longer in business.

C114

The Cherrypal C114 is a small, light nettop computer using a PowerPC-processor, the Freescale 5121e system-on-a-chip (SoC) integrated main-board, and Xubuntu as its operating system. The device launches Firefox Minefield web-browser, AbiWord word-processor, and other apps via icon double-click. An article in The Register noted that Cherrypal's producers asserted that the computer will consume only 2 watts of power. Independent, informal testing has shown a wattage consumption of still low 6.9 watts while booting. The CherryPal C114 was a rebadged version of the LimePC D1 mini-desktop computer developed as part of a broader Freescale PowerPC chip-based product line by THTF's Shenzhen R&D center and shown to the public at the 2008 CES in Las Vegas in January 2008.

Africa

Cherrypal's $99 netbook, the Africa, was aimed primarily at the developing world but also available for sale to consumers. According to a blog post by Max Seybold, the device's specs in Cherrypal's web store were kept intentionally vague, because the Africa was not built to a set design. Instead, Cherrypal either purchased pre-made netbook systems or bought odd lots of whatever inexpensive components were available and built netbooks out of these. It then rebranded these netbooks as Africas. The $99 computer was named Africa in honor of PAAJAF, a humanitarian services group based in Ghana, West-Africa. Seybold stated that the resulting device will at a minimum meet the specs listed on the website, but could also exceed them. It could also end up having an ARM, MIPS, or x86-based CPU architecture depending on what chips are available. In an interview, Seybold stated that the Africa was not meant to be sold as a "computer" in the traditional sense, but as an "appliance" to provide Internet access to people who could not afford to buy a traditional computer. He said that with the number of government services (such as unemployment or disability) that are encouraging access by Internet, lack of such access is becoming more and more of a disability. The only thing Cherrypal promised for $99 is the ability to access the Internet.

Other computers

Cloud computing plans

Cherrypal's marketers planned to use Firefox not only as its web-browser but also as its user interface to launch other applications such as OpenOffice.org. They planned that the Cherrypal would make use of cloud computing in which applications and storage would be wholly or in part Internet-based. These plans have not yet been implemented. The company's president asserted the cloud (Green Maraschino) would be launched in February 2010, however it is not known to have occurred.

Reception

Some commentators observed that Cherrypal arguably beat the heralded and much-better financed One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project to its goal of a $100 "laptop" (such units are physically small: a Cherrypal unit for general purchase at $99 plus shipping has a 7" screen, an OLPC provided to a child in developing world at $199 has a 7.5"). The company's business practices generated controversy and antipathy from some vocally dissatisfied customers, while others were marginally satisfied. Its practices pertaining to merchandise returns and communication have been repeatedly faulted. The U.S. Better Business Bureau rating for Cherrypal is an "F", indicating that the BBB strongly questions the company's reliability. Cherrypal said that it was committed to addressing the environmental concerns and the needs of impoverished countries and in particular key sponsorship of a learning center in Ghana. It supported a "One Laptop per Teacher" pilot program in Nigeria.

References

External links

Cherrypal corporate website "Cherrypal Unveils Low-Cost 'Cloud Computer'," Information Week, July 21, 2008 "Cherrypal Mini-desktop Consumes 2 Watts of Power," IDG News Service/PC World Magazine, July 21, 2008 "Will Cherrypal be the first mass-market cloud computer?", Venture Beat, July 21, 2008 “Linux mini-PC takes two Watts to tango” Desktop Linux/eWeek, July 22, 2008 “250 Freescale-Based ‘Green’ ‘Cloud’ Computer,” SlashDot, July 22, 2008 “Cherrypal out sweetens Apple with 2W, ultra-cheap PC,” The Register, June 17, 2008 “Waiting on a CerryPal? Don't Hold Your Breath” TG Daily, December 4, 2008

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1376995452 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.