January 30th, 2008 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Smartphones & Tablets | 1 Comment »
Today, we received an email from Hans Sandberg in regards to our
Gizmondo news from yesterday. Hans published on his blog a translated
piece of his interview with Carl Freer.
In the interview, Carl gives more details about his plans to bring back the Gizmondo device. He is busy setting up the company again and hopes to have it up and running by May of this year with the first Gizmondo’s selling around Christmas.
The new Gizmondo will also be a widescreen version, which will be released as a next step after the re-launch of the original device. That way, the Gizmondo will be competing better with the PSP from Sony. Also, the system will be based on open source software and so, come close to Google’s Android plans. The photo’s on Hans’ blog already show the widescreen mock-up of the device which looks a lot like the original PSP. The Chinese company Shenzhen will produce the console/mobile on credit and in return hold the sole rights for distribution in China. Also, Nvidia is willing to start producing the GoForce 3D 4500 again, the graphics card they designed exclusively for the Gizmondo.
In regards to getting the device on the market, Carl hopes that operators will promote the device with data subscriptions. Also, Carl explains that he has 35 mobile games lined up for the device. In the previous launch, the lack of compelling games was one of the reason the devices failed to reach the market. Of the 35 games, 6 are brand new. The revived Gizmondo would retail around $99, which is better than the $299 or $399 that consumers needed to pay for the previous versions.
The fact that the device is open-source related will be a big benefit. The new Gizmondo runs on Windows CE and allows games to be delivered on SD cards. This way, not only the commercial (mobile) gaming industry will benefit, but everybody can develop software for the device now. Also, there is no need to acquire software development kits and licenses for distribution. This makes the device comparable to the GPX2 (or was it GXP2).
On the business side, next to the cooperation with Plextek, Carl announced that Tiger Telematics will be revived again with a fresh board of directors. Mike Carrender will remain the CEO of the company. By reviving Tiger Telematics, the current investors have nothing to loose.
The full interview that gives more background data, photos and statements about why Carl is reviving the old business is well worth reading. Please find the interview at http://sandberghans.blogspot.com/2008/01/carl-freer-starts-over-with-gizmondo.html.
Anyway, we can’t wait to get our hands on a Gizmondo!
Arjan, this is GP2X 🙂