Obligatory comment whining that this being a boring ripoff of the monome

Obligatory response pointing out that thats wrong.
Toshio and Yamaha were working on Tenori-on project long before Monone activities were announced.
They are VERY different devices anyway and simply comparing them because they both have lights is not accurate. One is a musical instrument and the other is a computer controller.

Why would anyone say that - why would anybody compare the Tenori-on and Monome? It just doesn't make sense - in fact I'm starting to get the feeling someone associated with creating the Monome is just bitter considering how many similar comments I've seen.

Maybe that's because anybody can pick up a Tenori-on and start making music or cool visual patterns - with or without a computer, and a lot of thought already went into the methods by which you create music, allowing for amazing pattern combinations a person probably never would think of using the "programming" part of their brain. To top it off, you are not locked into "sequencing" and can play live (quantized or not) or combine sequencing and live playing.
http://jamesyu.org/2008/10/10/tenori-at-san-francisco-apple-store/