In an interview in the Gizmondo forums, Freer claimed that, "There is still incredible value in the Gizmondo. And with the enhancements we're adding... we feel it's only the beginning of where we can go with the product."

Gizmondo version 2.0 will include a new graphics chip, Windows CE 6.0 (which comes with "a lot of 'new' goodies," Freer says), and a bunch of original content to be downloaded off the gizmondo.com website. It'll be ready by Winter 2008, and the developer community can expect more announcements soon.

Left unanswered by the interview was why Freer thinks anybody is going to trust him with anything a second time around. Maybe he hasn't heard the adage: "Fool me once, your CEO gets sent to jail for three years and your company gets liquidated. Fool me twice... well, you ain't ever gonna fool me twice." [Gizmondo Forum]

"There are a few things to do, and it will be a while before that happens," Plextek's technical director Ian Murphy said to gaming site Eurogamer, "but yes, the product has been recovered from the liquidators and we are bringing it back to market."

Furthermore, Murphy said that he believes that the damned handheld will succeed this time because "the only reason Gizmondo was not a success last time round was because it was not fully brought into the market." He could have said that "the only reason Gizmondo was not a success last time round was because it wasn't painted in bright pink and decorated with lolcats" and it would have had the same effect on us. Absolute puzzlement.

We are still asking ourselves the same questions: How can anyone expect that a previously-failed, ultra-hyped product is going succeed in a second introduction against all probability? Specially, how is that going to happen when mighty and actually credible companies—like Nokia, Sega or Atari—have tried and failed miserably?

And what's worse: how can any company get associated with a man that was convicted for fraud in his teens; fined more than a quarter million dollars in 2005 for issuing rubber checks as a car dealer during the 90s; and arrested for illegal guns possession and impersonating a law enforcement agent this year in the US? What is going to make things different from the first time?

It all will remain a mystery for the time being. However, we stand corrected: that company exists and they are going ahead with a plan to revive a handheld console that exploded in a puff of smelly smoke. [Plextek via Eurogamer]

The original article appeared in Realtid.se, a gossip online mag that according to our sources in Sweden lacks any kind of credibility and "should be avoided at all costs." In the article, Carl Freer talks about launching a new Gizmondo with a wider screen and a possible co-op with an unnamed telco where customers will be offered a Gizmondo for free, just for signing up for a data transfer subscription.

Freer, long-time friend and associate of famed Ferrari-crasher, fraudster and fellow ex-convict Stefan Eriksson, was recently arrested in the US for impersonating an "anti-terrorist agent" and illegal possession of guns. He was also previously convicted in Sweden for fraud and fined $265,000 in Germany in 2006 for writing bouncing checks as a car dealer during the '90s.

The Realtid report spread then to two other, more serious newspapers: Veckans Affärer and the Dina Pengar. The latter quoted both Realtid and Veckans Affärer, tying up all the speculation with the last piece of the puzzle, a flash animation hosted at Gizmondolive.com. According to one source, the Dina Pengar article "is not good. They are just quoting other sources and try to put two and two together and end up with three."

Whois shows Gizmondolive.com was registered by Domains by Proxy, Inc., an anonymous web domain registration system designed to hide the identity of the real owner of the site. At this time, the owner of Gizmondolive.com remains unknown. Meanwhile, Gizmondo.com, the actual domain in which any of this would have actually happened, remains parked and in the property of Gizmondo Europe Ltd. (which presumably is owned by the company's debt liquidators.)

So yes, the November 2007 quote by Freer is allegedly real. As another source, Swedish IT journalist Joacim Melin, puts it: "in plain English, he [Freer] is probably bullshitting to attract any kind of venture capitalist" just like they did with the original Gizmondo. The rest, however, is just castles in the air and speculation at this point.

Our guess, looking at the evidence, is that the site was made by some joker following up the November 2007 quote. But who knows, maybe the next Vapormondo will have "psychic powers," as they say. In either case, with the history above, don't count on this happening. And good riddance, is all I can say.

UPDATE: In addition to all this, reader Sean sent us this flash template, which apparently was used in the the Gizmondolive.com animation and further shows that it's probably the job of a prankster.

[Realtid.se, Dina Pengar and ekonominyheterna - In Swedish. Additional sources: MoneyWeek]

The authorities believe Trevor Michael Karney, the true identity of the fictitious Dietrich, hid in Ireland for a time after the famous crash, then snuck back in to the United States via Mexico. He was arrested today and charged with drunk driving, resisting arrest, lying to a police officer (about his involvement in the ordeal) and, potentially, violating federal immigration code. Some people never learn. [LA Times]

Gizmondo Units [Ebay]

Used Trade Show Displays [Exhibit Trader - Thanks Jay!]

From a business standpoint, it is a really interesting read. It is a bit lengthy, but definitely an interesting piece about the development of gadgets, deception and how some cooking of the books and overspending can make the shit hit the fan, quick. – Travis Hudson

Feature: 'Gizmondo - Inside The Eye Of The Tiger' [Game Set Watch]

A recap for the entire story, is here.
–Brian Lam

Brokeback Enzo Update: Fat Steffie Rejects Plea [Jalopnik]

Gizmondo, if you don't remember is the hand held gaming device decked out with GPS, motion-sensing, Bluetooth, and every other gadget buzz word you can think of. We'd seen prototypes, but it never seemed like the thing would get off the ground. That became the truth shortly after the CEO smashed up of a 660-hp Ferrari Enzo early one Spring morning. The rest is history, and now a legendary tale filled with ex convict Gizmondo executives, Swedish mafia thugs, stolen exotic cars, stock fraud, and extortion. Jump for the sweet opener.

THE BUMP IN THE ROAD that ended Bo Stefan Eriksson's fantastic ride is practically invisible. From 10 feet away, all you can see is the ragged edge of a tar-seamed crack in an otherwise smooth sheet of pavement...there's barely enough lip to stub a toe. Of course, when you hit it at close to 200 miles per hour, as police say Eriksson did in the predawn light last February 21, while behind the wheel of a 660-horsepower Ferrari Enzo, consequences magnify.

Gizmondo's Spectacular Crack-up [Wired]

He's being held on $3 million bail. We should hold a raffle to raise money! – John Biggs

Ferrari Driver Pleads Not Guilty to Crash Charges[LATimes]

Our Obsessive Gizmondo Coverage

There are only three of the discontinued devices in stock, so hurry and pony up your hard-earned £127.64 ($239.56) for it. Just think, you could add it to your "ash heap of history" collection.

Gizmondo Gaming Console [ebuyer]

Not to be a douche, but we always said Gizmondo was doomed. There was just something not quite right about that company—their hubris, their lackluster product, their inability to deliver on anything, ever. The resulting crash, both literally and figuratively, made it abundantly clear Gizmondo was rotten to the core. Take this little tid-bit, for example:

Now, little more than 12 months after the Gizmondo console was launched at a party at the Park Lane hotel in London — where stars such as Sting, Dannii Minogue and Busta Rhymes were paraded in front of guests — Freer's company is in liquidation, having burnt its way through £160m in 18 months.

Mmmm... that's some good burn rate.

The firm that blew it all in two years [TimesOnline]

Our Ongoing, Obsessive Gizmondo Coverage

Since we can't answer that question, we can ask ourselves why he had "representatives" from "Homeland Security" aka some bus drivers from San Gabriel Valley who came to pick him up after the crash, to no avail. Finally, who the hell is Dietrich? And, finally, how the hell does an international convicted felon get two Enzos and a MacLaren SLR and most of us can barely afford a used Caprice Classic?

Strange saga of smashed Ferrari back in court [CNN]
Our Gizmondo Coverage

He is charged with bringing two Enzos and a Mercedes McLaren SLR — altogether worth an estimated $3.8 million — into the United States even though he allegedly did not have permission from the British banks that provided them on "lease purchase" agreements.

Defense attorney Paul Takakjian argued that Eriksson stopped paying because his business collapsed.

Poor, crazy Bo.
Trial ordered in case of hot Ferrari [CNN via Jalopnik]

What raises red flags here? First, that $300 million figure is unbelievably high for a company that's not really doing anything new, second, most of the executives at the company came from that spectacular failure of a gaming device company, Gizmondo. And third, the company just pulled off a "reverse merger," a tricky technique that's often a sign of some sort of pump-and-dump scam going on. Caveat emptor.

Sketchy New Mobile Firm Does Sketchy Reverse Merger [techdirt]

The charges come amidst two events that happened over the past few months. He was involved in an accident where one of 399 rare Ferrari Enzo's was wrecked into a light pole at well over 150mph and ripped in half. Eriksson's blood alcohol test registered well-above the legal limit, but he claimed that another man, named Dietrich, was the one driving and then fled into the woods. Dietrich was never found.

More questions began arising just a month later when a $600,000 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren was seized by police when Eriksson's wife was stopped in Beverly Hills on suspicion of driving without a license. The car had been reported stolen to London's Scotland Yard.

Eriksson was officially arrested for failing to make payments on three sports cars that were imported to the U.S. from Britain. Other charges may be added pending DNA tests and further investigation including DUI and fraud for the business venture that the three sports cars were purchased on. He is also being held without bail because of his questionable visa status. Arraignment on this case is expected to begin this week.

An arrest for theft in Malibu mystery Crash of Ferrari led to charges over exotic car imports
Fast cars and fast living at heart of Malibu mystery [San Francisco Chronicle]
Arrest Is Made in Ferrari Accident [LA Times]

The SLR, as we all know, is an amazing car and if I were a former Gizmondo investor I'd be pissed. Stefan is rolling with his home-girl in a classy ride while our GPS-enabled handheld gaming system disappears in a cloud of lies and vaporware. Karma, however, is a bitch.

UPDATE - Sorry, forgot that it was Mercedes.

Ferrari Owner Is Minus His Second Car [ChicagoTribune]

Eriksson survived the crash, but the Enzo, one of 399 made, didn't fare very well. Apparently Eriksson was a passenger in the vehicle and that the real driver, a German, fled the scene.

Swedish games mogul smashes million dollar Ferrari [TheLocal]

Granted, anyone with the slightest ability to speculate the future of a company that threw itself against both Sony and Nintendo simultaneously could have called it, too. Guess nobody wanted a half-baked gaming machine with crappy games, no business model, and hardware that was designed to help parents track down their kids via GPS.

Even more amusingly, we had drinks with a man at CES who told us that he had shorted Gizmondo's stock after our initial reports, making upwards of $800,000 as the company crashed and burned. It just goes to show that even something as poorly conceived as the Gizmondo can still bring happiness—when it dies.

Fortunately, parent company Tiger Telematics is attempting to buy the assets of Gizmondo Europe, so we may get to experience joy twice over when they fail utterly, as well.

Court hands Gizmondo Europe to liquidators [RegHar]

Tiering doesn t work anymore: Navigating the aftermath of the customer revolution

Many companies are convinced that the market for new products has become increasingly bi-polar, split into high tier (high price) and low tier (low cost), with the middle market drying up. This would be exemplified by the Porsche driver who always buys her groceries at a high-end delicatessen, and the driver of a cheap import who always shops at a discount super market. As a result, companies believe they have to decide to turn one way or the other—either aim high, or aim low.

Yet in the aftermath of the "customer revolution," in which consumers have grown increasingly explicit about what they want (which is not yet what they necessarily really need) simply aiming high or low isn't the smart strategy. While it used to be sufficient to offer a product spectrum tiered into high, medium and low, today's offerings have to be carefully targeted at sharply defined customer segments in order to be successful; the entire notion of a linear feature-to-price ratio no longer exists (it still does for feature-to-cost, though!). As a prominent chief marketing officer quipped to me the other day, "Tiering doesn't work anymore."

Traditional "tiering" works through color, finish, materials and feature sets; for example, real aluminum is used for high tier, painted plastics for lower tier products. (We talked about tiering with authentic vs. synthetic materials in an earlier Design Mind column. New technological features are initially introduced in high-tier products, then mature down to commodity features over time—for example, anti-lock brakes.

Those tiering mechanisms are now pass . Many execs see the middle market fading. Take razors, for example—the addition of three- and four-blade razors on the high end where a single replacement shaving head costs more than a set of five from the cheap use-once-and-throw-away models. Indeed, a recently published McKinsey report (McKinsey Quarterly 4/2005; The vanishing middle market by Trond Riiber Knudsen, Andreas Randel, and Jorgen Rugholm) demonstrated that mid-tier growth rates lag substantially behind the average by 7 percent per year.

So, for the gadgets we ll see in 18 months to 2 years from now it shouldn t be just high or low anymore; companies have to really understand what makes a winning proposition to individual customer segments even before they know it themselves sometimes. At the same time, consumers struggle to be conscious (and honest) of their needs, which is necessary to select precisely the right product.

Some industries learned decades ago that products had to be designed for future customer segments and specific applications: Mercedes expansion of product offerings from limousines to convertibles (adding SLK and CLK) to SUVs (G, M), compacts (A, B) and family vans (Vito, Viano, Vaneo, R) is an example of a targeted product range. They always maintained the high-tier pretense and targeted customers with very specific needs before tiering into SMARTs, Chryslers and Maybachs.

Modularization is another approach to targeting individual customers needs. Take a look at the PC industry. Here, the consumer s need to define a matching product has spurred an entire industry of "shopping consultants"—PC product configurators and neighborhood stores—who help buyers make educated choices and configurations for their PCs.

Other industries cannot exploit such targeting techniques; airlines, for example, could only add low-frills city lines initially, before finally going low cost all the way, like JetBlue and Southwest. Others, such as Lufthansa, upgrade their services value by adding designated first-class terminals and tiered frequent flyer lounges for Silver, Gold and Black frequent flyers. However, envisioning airlines that target specific customer segments beyond business travelers only, such as singles or outdoor enthusiasts, might be a fun exercise. Hooters Air in the US could be considered such an attempt.

The trend of research-based customer segment targeting has slowly trickled through all mass-production industries, arriving at integrated high-tech gadgets such as laptops, cell phones and handheld GPS devices. More features and more performance do not translate into competitive advantage for large customer segments anymore. This creates a big shift in the industry, which has grown on the idea of one size fits all .

Ironically, the largest targeting success in the handheld GPS market, Dutch TomTom s Go, was succeeded immediately by a string of merely tiered derivatives (300, 500, and 700). It appears now that they did not actually pursue a targeted approach in the first place but quickly learned from their consumers. TomTom could arguably be attributed with creating a new market when they perfectly targeted the casual GPS user such as soccer moms and driving-for-pleasure-retirees with their conscientiously friendly, not-too-technical products. This starts with the outside of the packaging - the cool black cube with the black lacquered maze on it appeals to more style-conscious buyers rather than the typical technology-driven user. It continues to the friendly, potato-shaped housing of the product without all those numerous (i.e. scary) buttons and a cool (and costly) aluminum logo on the back.

Other GPS vendors quickly followed into this new market, introducing ever more targeted, casual GPS devices (including the game console Gizmondo). TomTom seems to have realized their wrong turn and recently added two targeted devices, a weatherproof unit for motorcyclists and a portable slim line model. Only the 700 is highly advertised; the other tiered versions 300 and 500 can be found at discount stores in Europe.

The value promise for the targeted consumer comes from a very specific and balanced mix of features and attributes or services which represent value for that consumer, like the camera in a waterproof housing, the ability to play games with a phone or the seamless integration of a media player with an online music store through the home computer (we know to whom I am referring). Gadget producers have to look outside their home turf to find those winning combinations which create a rewarding, holistic experience for consumers, be they technical features, feature/service combinations, or purely emotional content. Customers are quick to learn that making a purchasing decision tiered solely on their initial budget alone will not yield a rewarding and loyalty-creating experience. Companies who do not go the extra mile today to understand their customers conscious and unconscious needs will waste time, money and resources developing boring products.

Today you see Porsche drivers being proud of their discount bargains and you see meat and potato -Joe enjoying a latte macchiato tiering simply doesn t work anymore.

Dr. Michael Schachler is frog design s head of Business Development for Europe. He has worked in leadership positions related to product development for US software firm PTC and Management consultancy McKinsey in Europe and Asia before joining frog design.

The frog Design Mind column appears every Monday on Gizmodo. Read more frog Design Mind.

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Gizmondo executives quit under cloud [The Register]

The gist is that the initial investors and the president Stefan "Fat-Stefan" Eriksson are part of the "Lingonberry Boyz" aka the Uppsala-mafia. True, false, we're used to seeing shady back-door deals in gaming. It's the new bathtub gin.

The Criminal who became a director/manager

Swedish criminals gets many millions in salaries from computer gaming
company London, four Swedish are top managers in the British billion
kronor (Swedish Krona is a seventh of a USD) Company Gizmondo that
tries to compete with gaming giants Sony and Nintendo. Aftonbladet
(Swedish newspaper) can as of today reveal that three of them has been
sentenced to severe crimes. The previous leader of the criminal gang
Stefan "Fat-Stefan" Eriksson, top manager of Gizmondo has a salary and
bonus over 25 million Kronas (aprox 3,5 millions USD). Stefan
"Fat-Stefan" Eriksson 43 yrs is today written about in international
respect business press. He sees photographed with the Jet Set of
England , and run the Billion Krona company Gizmondo, with companions
Peter Uf, 42 yrs and Johan Enander46 yrs. No one seems to know the
past connection with the organized criminals of Sweden.

They where called the Uppsala-mafia (Uppsala is a town in Sweden)

Link [Aftonbladet - In Swedish]

In early 1990 the three companions got the infamous name "The Uppsala Mafia". They where sentenced to long punishment in jail in several different trials, one of the crimes was trying to fraud 22 millions Kronas from the Swedish Bank Giro central. Stefan "Fat-Stefan" Eriksson 43 yrs was 1993 and 1994 sentenced to 10 and a half years prison for major economic frauds. His companion Peter Uf, was sentenced to in total 8 and a half years prison. Ulf is today a manager in the Gizmondo organization. Johan Enander, 46, that was called the Uppsala-mafia torpedo got over 6 years prison in different trials. He was sentenced for different crimes as for example physical assault, blackmail etc. In December 2003 he was again sentenced to one and a half years of physical assault of a women. As soon he had served hi punishment he was assigned as Head of security at Gizmondo.

The founder of Gizmondo is the unpunished friend and entrepreneur Carl
Freer, 35 yrs, the Swedes has big plans for the future. The idea is
that they should compete with giants with market leader Gameboy
(Nintendo) and PSP (Sony). The money in this area is astronomic. But
there has been none profit for the new combers. Instead they did a
loss on 1,6 billion Swedish Krona (more than 200 Millions USD). But
the company's lack of success does not matter when it comes to
salaries and benefits. The manager Stefan "Fat-Stefan" Ericsson got
last year salary and bonus that exceeded 24 millions of Krona, plus a
company car worth 815 000 Krona (aprox 115 000 USD).

Gizmondo US Launch [Gizmondo]
Press Release on Email Package [Gizmondo]

Gizmondo thief caught by GPS [Stuffmag]

Tiger Telematics Confirm... [Yahoo!]

Today's DAP headlines:

Dell introduces the Ditty, a very bland-looking flash DAP. Meanwhile, Tiger Telematics throws some "widescreen Gizmondo" pictures and specs into the arena, the JVC DAPpus anonymous (aka "XA-MP101B") receives a spanking by CNet and finally the Frenchies were at it again - they've shot some pictures of Archos' new AV500 and 402cc.

Despite it being... kind of boring, we've rather appreciated Dell's small DAP range ever since said company introduced the first Dell DJ. Apparently, they felt the urgency to introduce a new player to go along with their current DJ and Pocket DJ - and so, the "DJ Ditty" was born. It's nothing more and nothing less than a simple-profile, 512MB flash DAP that comes with FM tuner and a built-in li-polymer battery (estimated playback time per charge: 14 hours). The DJ Ditty retails at $99 which is okay, but far from "spectacularly cheap". It also looks a bit like some Kenwood player, which in turn was a rebranded Creative player. All in all, this once again confirms the close relationship between Dell & Creative. Let's hope that they can come up with more inspiring stuff than this Ditty and the supposed Pink DJ, alongside FM-equiped version of the current DJs.

The Gizmondo has only seen its release in the UK, Tiger Telematics thought it'd be cool to let us all enjoy the wonderfully-warped world of widescreen madness. In other words - they're intending to develop a widescreen version of the Gizmondo. The supposed specifications are wicked as well: a 16:9 format (480x272 pixel) screen, better graphics processor, better digicam, TV output, USB Host, WiFi (WLAN 802.11b/g), Bluetooth 2 and a tri-band GSM transciever. We're not sure if it'll clean up your shed as well but we wouldn't be surprised if it did.

Hurray for boring flash players, part 2: the "DJ Ditty" mentioned above finds its equal in the JVC XA-MP101B. What's in a name, huh? Well, according to Cnet... not much. They slam the device for still using USB1.1 as an interface, among other things (no id3-based track browsing, certain subscription formats not being recognized, legendary dullness). A nice quote to go with their 5.3/10 verdict: "Yawn-the JVC XA-MP101B is about as unexciting as they come".

The friendly French people over at Archos have introduced a small slew full of new devices over the last few weeks. Among the glitter and glamor of these new toys the Gmini-402cc and AV530 can be found. The 402cc adds both camcorder and photo camera functionalities to the Gmini-402's standard array of possibilities (video and audio playback, USB-Host, id3-based and directory-based track browsing et cetera). The guys over at GenerationMP3 checked it out for us, and took a trillion pics of this weird, nifty device. Next to that, a nice collection of visual materials on the AV530 (the successor to the famous AV400 series, offering video recording as well as playback and 300 other cool features) should be able to please the Archos crowds for now.

Ok, that's DAP Delights for today, guys and gals.

Interestingly, when I started making my calls I began getting odd reactions to my questions. It sounds like the U.S. pr firm for the Gizmondo release, is no longer handling press for the device. And this news comes less than a week before the launch date for the device?

Then I hear that no one, in fact, is handling U.S. press for the launch. Instead all press calls are being handled by a UK person that s worldwide.

I ve always thought that this device was going to go over like an N-Gage at a Nintendo press conference, but I thought it would at least make a showing.

Now it looks like the device will never get out the door, at least not in the U.S.

When will people learn? The barrier to entry in gaming is too high. Sorry, Tapwave/Phantom/Everybody Else Looking to Make a Quick Buck Off the Kids but it is.

PS - Don't bother KotakuBrian about his headline. He knows what he's doing.

Where For Art Thou Gizmondo? [Kotaku]