[France] Tablets are destined to be the next super trendy tech device. CrunchGear regularly reports on new devices that will be launched by PC or mobile manufacturers, and Apple will one day join the dance. Analysts have announced that the tablet war will take place in 2010 so we just have to be patient.
A French company called Unowhy, (which raised 2.9 million euros in April 09) is approaching the issue from another angle. They see the tablet not as a finality but as a way to offer new experiences. And that’s how QooQ was born: a cooking coach built into a tablet. It’s not about hardware, it’s not about software, it’s about content. Qooq will replace your cooking books, and bring you hundreds of recipes, tips and tools to help you become a master chef.
The tablet Qooq has a 10.2-inch touchscreen display and onscreen keyboard, with a glass screen to protect the device from food and other mess (it is designed to be at the heart of the kitchen), and has an internet connection over Ethernet or WiFi (to receive recipe updates). The operating system is perfectly adapted for the device and for the content, bringing some interesting applications such as a cooking planner, a shopping list maker etc. It can act as a radio, offers other Internet widgets and can be used as a digital photo frame.
QooQ is not a device for geeks, it’s for people who enjoy cooking, and that would like a coach, for new and interactive recipes. It’s sold online and offline, and to fit with their positioning the device isn’t to be found in the technology section (with other tablet PCs) but amongst the other cooking books.
Qooq costs 349 euros, which includes the device and 500 recipes and 10 videos from various French chefs. For 12.95 euros per month, you can add a pass to have access to more than 500 videos with chefs and 2000 recipes. Why no English version for the UK and the US? Because, as already noted, the device is content-driven and will require the QooQ team to source local recipes, with local chefs etc.