Gizmondo is (Unfortunately) History
(Hey, maybe this means Microsoft will buy up the company's IP and use that as their next gaming device? Hmmm! -Auri)
Formerly very flashy shop of
Gizmondo located on the renown Regent street in London, UK (weak
attempt to imitate Apple Corporation and their shop on the same street)
is now in process of liquidation - similarly like the whole Gizmondo
company (photo taken yesterday):
The same shop looked previously much differently - a Gizmondo
flag waving, mini-car with advertisement, big flashy presentations:
* * * * *
Gizmondo - known also as Tiger Telematics - a British company
that tried to release a mobile gaming console based on Windows CE - has
gone bankrupt with big debt (over 200 million USD) and is no more, so
let's take a look "postmortem" what went wrong and what others (i.e.
other manufacturers producing hardware based on Microsoft mobile
software) can learn from it:
- Gizmondo was based on
Windows CE operating system that is a basis on which Windows Mobile is
built and operating system used in many industrial applications. What
went wrong: standard OS like Windows Mobile Pocket PC should be used
because it offers already a lot of software, also games, and extending
existing games for Pocket PC to new features of Gizmondo would be much
easier than making wholly new games. Another example of this mistake:
Microsoft's own Portable Media Center (PMC) platform that is based also
on Windows CE, doesn't offer Pocket PC or MS Smartphone compatibility
(although Microsoft calls it "Windows Mobile" sometimes).
- Gizmondo device had GPRS connectivity but no ability to make
phone calls. What went wrong: artificially limiting features of the
device is always sooner or later striking back. Another example of this
mistake: lack of A2DP (stereo audio over Bluetooth) in several Windows
Mobile phones manufactured by HTC although this feature is available as
integral part of Windows Mobile operating system. Yet another example
of this mistake: Microsoft's own Portable Media Center (PMC) platform
that is based also on Windows CE, but doesn't allow execution of 3rd
party programs - Microsoft thinks that it knows better what users need
or don't need and says that PMC are for video and audio playback and
not for running programs. Unfortunately Microsoft doesn't fire people
for mistakes, so Microsoft employees just repeat blindly marketing
mantra and are still claiming that it is good that PMC is so limited.
- Gizmondo was equipped in Bluetooth for near-range gaming but
lacked Wi-Fi. With Wi-Fi many things become possible like for example
Skype (Gizmondo had 400 MHz processor so it could handle Skype only if
it would have Wi-Fi). Another example of this mistake: lack of built-in
Wi-Fi in some contemporary Windows Mobile phones.
- TV-out socket was missing in Gizmondo. It would be useful in
a gaming console anyway and it is available nowadays in various mobile
phones even (for example: from Samsung). Another example of this
mistake: lack of TV-out in HTC Universal.
- wrong business model: business model of Gizmondo in big part
was based on "Smart Ads" where users were supposed to be able to
purchase Gizmondo cheaper in return for agreement on watching
advertisements while gaming. Obviously users don't like watching
advertisements if they pay for something. Another example of this
mistake: some vendors of Windows Mobile phones try to sell them through
exotic distribution channels instead of striking a deals with mobile
operators (i.e. wireless carriers) and some other vendors have
unrealistic business models based one and only one feature - see
example of big failure of Voq smartphone from Sierra Wireless, where
flippable QWERTY keyboard was presented as the biggest invention since
slice bread, but the rest of the phone was missing the point - not even
Bluetooth was available. Lesson: don't base business model on one
method or feature only but try to address maximally broad spectrum of
users (example: if a phone has TMC then put also FM radio program -
don't assume that it is only for businessmen, who don't care about
radio).
Conclusion: everybody expects
that Microsoft itself will release sooner or later a portable gaming
console (portable Xbox?) - something that Gizmondo could be - but we
are afraid that instead of releasing a fully compatible Pocket PC
device with boosted graphics capabilities it will be again a
proprietary device, which will repeat mistakes of Gizmondo. Please note
that Microsoft's Xbox business is in red for years (over 1 billion of
loss, some people say: even 4-5 billions possible) and that release of
Sony PlayStation 3 may prevent Microsoft from achieving profitability
in Xbox ever! Devices like mobile gaming console Sony PSP are however
already wildly popular and profitable. Mobile gaming console market is
a tough market where only major players like Nintendo and Sony can have
any chances, so instead of expecting "Xbox mobile" that would repeat
mistakes of Gizmondo, Microsoft should just convince partners to build
a gaming devices fully compatible with Windows Mobile (for Pocket PC)
that would preserve existing features rather than proposing wholly new
device.
Anyway: Gizmondo is history. Wild success of Apple iPod and huge
success of Sony PSP mean that Microsoft is compelled to release new mobile
platforms for gaming and multimedia. The question is: will Microsoft
and its partners learn anything from the failure of Gizmondo?
Source: MSMobiles.com