Anytime over the past year-and-a-half or so, whenever someone asked me what I thought about the CrunchPad, my answer was pretty much always the same: you’ll never get your hands on one. Call me a cynic, but I just found it difficult to believe that Mike Arrington would be able to pull off what no other major consumer electronics manufacturer has been unable to do as of yet. Today, Mike announced that the CrunchPad is dead. No more. Kaput. I’m not surprised.

Let me make myself clear, though. My thoughts had nothing to do with the capabilities of Arrington, FusionGarage, or anyone else involved in the project. I simply felt that there would be an outside influence that would knock the project off-track. Conspiracy theory or not, if a major manufacturer that had a lot of pull in the area where these devices are manufactured (like China) truly wanted to play hardball to make sure a small start-up couldn’t release a device like the CrunchPad because they were going to be releasing something similar, at a much higher price, I bet they could pull that off.

Not to say that this is what happened, I’m just thinking aloud. However, when you read Mike’s post on the matter, you quickly realize that something went on, and it was something strange and sudden. Either way, the CrunchPad is dead. No worries, though, 2010 will be the year that the tablet hits the mainstream.