Tiger Telematics Sets U.S. Street Date For Gizmondo

Gizmondo Europe Ltd., itself a subsidiary of Jacksonville, Florida-based Tiger Telematics Inc. has announced the street date for North America of its new "multi-entertainment handheld", the Gizmondo, for August 11th 2005. The Gizmondo uses the Windows CE.NET operating system and Windows Media Player. It is powered by a Samsung ARM9 400MHz processor, 64MB onboard memory and a 128-bit NVIDIA GoForce 3D 4500 graphics accelerator. As well as gaming, the console also advertises music and video playback, SMS, picture messaging, e-mail and has an in-built camera and global positioning (GPS) functionality. The Gizmondo has a major booth presence at E3, and has also announced a deal with Electronic Arts to release FIFA Football 2005 and SSX 3 on the handheld later this year, despite previous concerns over longer-term financial problems for the company. Mike Morgan, VP of Global Sales, Gizmondo, commented: “We will be announcing our retail and distribution partners through the trade media over the next few weeks", and Carl Freer, Co-founder and Chairman, Tiger Telematics, added: “The North American market is hugely important and we will make every necessary resource available to ensure a successful launch.”