Those you you who’ve been following the CrunchPad project since we first announced it in the summer of 2008 weren’t too happy to hear about the recent…hiccups…that we continue to fight through.

But never fear, while we continue to clean up the mess that our Asian contractor left behind we’ve been hard at work on a new project that lets anyone create an iPad like device from any laptop screen. It’s called the CrunchPad Kit and it goes on sale now. Best of all, we’re selling this for just $49 as an introductory price. Once 800 have sold, or about $44,000 in revenue, we’ll be moving to a higher price.

The CrunchPad team has been working around the clock here at our Palo Alto headquarters to get the kit ready for full production in time for the delivery of the iPad on April 3.

We know you want an iPad, but you aren’t as excited about that $499+ price tag. With the CrunchPad Kit, you can turn any laptop screen into a device that’s just as good, for a fraction of the price.

Introducing The CrunchPad Kit

The kit contains everything you need to convert any laptop screen into a fully functional touch screen device. The key piece of technology is a transparent resizable modular touch screen overlap material that you add to the screen after removing it from the rest of the laptop. You then install the remaining electronics, as well as a power supply, and the device is ready to go. Also included in each kit is a 4G module that you can optionally activate and add to the device for always-on connectivity.

There’s real technology here, particularly in the touch module, that we’ve developed with our new partner. A number of patents have been filed around this new research, which we’re calling the F.U.J.J. With the F.U.J.J. you can convert any laptop screen of any size, up to 17 inches, into a CrunchPad.

There’s more information in the video above, including a complete walk through of the five minute installation process. Order your CrunchPad Kit now, we expect to be completely sold out within 48 hours.

Here’s one last picture of the Asian team we hired to help us build this product working on the F.U.J.J. from our office in Palo Alto after we sponsored their immigration visas to get them over here.