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Wireless Vet Yuen Joins Ambitious Mobile Console Creator Zeebo
by Kris Graft [PC, Console/PC]
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August 10, 2009
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Mike Yuen, former Qualcomm senior director of games and services, will be joining Zeebo, the company that hopes to attract the "next billion gamers" with its ambitious wireless-based games console.
Zeebo plans on attracting a large, new demographic by launching its self-titled Zeebo console in emerging markets. The console utilizes a 3G wireless system for users to download games and entertainment content.
The console plugs directly into a television set. Zeebo already launched in its homeland of Brazil in May, and comes with software packed in to get users started. It retails for $249, or about a third of traditional game consoles, Zeebo has said.
At Zeebo, Yuen will be senior VP of content and services, and maintain and establish relationships "with publishers and developers in games, education, and other content and services areas," the company said.
Zeebo's partners include Capcom, Com2uS, Digital Chocolate, EA Mobile, Gameloft, Gamevil, Glu, Id Software, Machineworks Northwest LLC, Namco Networks, PopCap Games, and THQ.
Yuen already has had close ties with Zeebo, as his former employer Qualcomm, another mobile company, is a primary shareholder in Zeebo. Yuen is also a member of Zeebo's board of directors.
"Joining Zeebo is a tipping point in my professional career and now is the right time for me to go 'all in'," said Yuen in a statement. "The circle is complete and what began as an idea is now a real commercial product on retail shelves in Brazil with more countries to come."
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Also it is important to remember that the high console prices are because importation taxes, the Zeebo is high priced on its own (it is not imported, it is manufactured here, thus paying "only" 50% of its value in taxes at maximum, while a Wii is taxed in some states 275%).
Still, Zeebo is a failure, it started as a failure... I am brazillian, my parents live in the city were the manufacturer design the in-house games, and I live in the city where the manufacturer has its headquarters, and in neither places I found a single Zeebo on the stores... Also the reviews mostly paint a "mediocre" (not bad, but not good) picture of it, when ignoring the price, because if the price is considered, the mobile-level hardware (that seemly can only achive graphics a bit better than PS1) is grossily overpriced...
In the end it is like a huge smartphone that intend to look like a console.