Tapwave Zodiac Business Discontinued!
It’s official!, Tapwave Zodiac has discontinued business effective July 25, 2005. This is the statement released on their website:
“We are sorry to inform you that the Zodiac business was discontinued and service and support are no longer available as of July 25th 2005.
Resources that may still be helpful to you can be found at http://www.tapwave.com/resources and http://www.tapwave.com/support. This includes links to websites where you can find a variety of useful tips and information as well as purchase e-books, Audible books and magazines, Palm OS applications, Zodiac skins, and third party Tapwave Certified games.”
The statement goes on to say that additional products, accessories, and game cards may still be available from COMPUSA, Fry’s, and J&R while supplies last.
What does this mean for Tapwave’s OEM partnering? Is that a dead issue and has Tapwave truly gone the way of the dinosaur? Post your thoughts!
July 28, 2005 @ 08:45 AM | Comments (7)
Comments
1. cakers said...
Man, is this depressing news! While I’ve never owned a Zodiac, I’ve been quite impressed with the device, particularly the innovative controls, the great screen, and the dual SD slots. It’s a great PDA, even if you never use it for games. Plus that’s one less PalmOS licensee, which is also a downer. The announcement also sounds like they’re not going forward with providing expertise and support for other manufacturers, which is another disappointment.
I just hope the innovative minds behind the Zodiac find work in the PDA industry, ‘cause we definitely need to keep the creativity going and growing. Tapwave clearly advanced the cause.
Posted: December 11, 2005 11:31 AM
2. mashby said...
This sucks ass in a major way, but from what I’m reading they are only referring to the Zodiac NOT Tapwave. That leaves a glimmer of hope, but I hope they have an announcement soon with some good news!
Posted: December 11, 2005 11:32 AM
3. cakers said...
While you’re correct in terms of the exact language used, the fact that they don’t even mention anything else continuing, or something like “look for Tapwave [or Zodiac] technology in future products from our OEM partners” or some such doesn’t encourage me.
Posted: December 11, 2005 11:33 AM
4. mashby said...
True and this article doesn’t make me feel any better. http://www.computingunplugged.com/issues/issue200507/00001607001.html
However, I expect an OEM deal is on the horizon, but more than that I can’t say. :/
Posted: December 11, 2005 11:33 AM
5. cakers said...
Speaking of gaming devices and PalmOS, didn’t Nintendo license the OS within the last year? And what about Sony, don’t they still have a PalmOS license, ostensibly for Japanese sales? We could possibly still see a gaming device with Palm apps, either the basic PIM functions, or perhaps more extensive OS support.
Or maybe I’m just grasping at straws.
Posted: December 11, 2005 11:34 AM
6. TennMan said...
Yeah Charlie, that’s what I originally thought when Nintendo licensed the PalmOS. I thought they would marry the form function of the Zodiac along with the power and pockets of Nintendo. This would be a short way in for Nintendo to the Palm economy. While this may still happen, I think Nintendo may get the intellectual property for a song now.
Posted: December 11, 2005 11:34 AM
7. cakers said...
But they may not actually need the intellectual property since they already have a PalmOS license and know gaming inside and out. All that they don’t know is putting the two together. And maybe they’ve pulled an “Apple” by already having internal working prototypes of gaming devices, specifically the DS, running PalmOS along with the gaming OS. Of course, that’s the purest of speculation on my part.
[Do traditional gaming machines actually run an OS, or just an operating kernal, sorta like the original PalmOS?]