Tapwave kills the Zodiac
By Peter Rojas 
posted Jul 27th 2005 9:34PM
posted Jul 27th 2005 9:34PM
We already knew Tapwave were hurting, but as of two days ago they've officially killed off the Zodiac, that line of Palm-powered gaming handhelds they introduced a couple of years back. The Zodiac never really ever caught on — you can argue about why, but at the end of the day there's no denying that pimping a new portable game console ain't easy unless you're Sony or Nintendo (you can ask Tiger Telematics or Nokia all about that). Tapwave was supposedly repositioning the Zodiac as a multimedia device (which they were going to develop for OEM partners or something along those lines), obviously that didn't exactly work out.
"Tapwave was supposedly repositioning the Zodiac as a multimedia device (which they were going to develop for OEM partners or something along those lines), obviously that didn’t exactly work out."
Do you know something more than is written on Tapwave's official homepage? If not, I don't see how you can interpret stopping support for the Zodiac as simultaneously failing in their OEM dealings. I don't see how this has anything to do with their OEM plans, which I'd guess are probably right on track. The message on their website pertains to the Zodiac and only to the Zodiac as far as I'm concerned and not any future products as an OEM partner.
However, if you know something not listed on Tapwave's site, make sure to give us an update ;)
The website statement that "If you have an outstanding claim with the company, Ueker and Associates will be contacting you shortly" seems to point to bankruptcy, where "claim" is a claim under bankruptcy, and "Ueker and Associates" is the administrator.
This doesn't explicitly point to OEM failure, but it pushes in that direction.
They aren't simply ending service and support for the Zodiac, they say flat out that they are discontinuing the business entirely.
It is too bad as I always like the idea of the Zodiac, but it looked too much like a gaming machine for me to think it, or I, would be taken seriously at work or in job interviews. I may have gone for it if they had found a way to tastefully work in a cell phone (a required Bluetooth headset would have been fine by me), but I ended up leaving the Palm OS over a year ago for an SE P900 and haven't looked back since.
Maybe I'll buy a Zodiac in a few years on the aftermarket just to see what it was like...
I wonder if Nintendo might buy up their assets since they are also Palm OS licensees. It would be interesting to see Nintendo do something with the Zodiac, and the Zodiac's custom interface, and bring that to the DS... but I doubt that will happen. I suspect someone, somewhere, is putting their Zodiac next to their Newton and moving onto a new gadget...
*****! *****! ****!!!!!!11
I've been waiting to get my zodiac for 3 and a half weeks for now.... No wonder it didnt show up.
Damn. The Zodiac was one of the best Palm devices too. Not many of those other ones support TWO cards in at once.
The emulation support on the Zodiac was horrible. You can find emulation on the PSP than you could on the Zodiac.
For a device as geeky as this, Tapwave certainly didn't play nice with the tech crowds.
Also two-hand operation PDA will never take off.
$$$.
That's why. Too. Damn. Much. Money.
it was nice knowing it.
i wish i had one.
time to visit frys!
Quite disappointing. I was considering a Zodiac II recently. I'm glad I went with a different device. I personally thought this was a great form factor. Likewise, I was impressed with the use of two SD card slots. Though I did not expect the company to kill the device, I thought that support for the Zodiac seemed anemic, however. Ultimately I went with a PalmOne (oops Palm) device. Oh well. R.I.P. Zodiac...
Yet another Palm OS licensee bites the dust. A shame, too, because the Zodiac was a better-built device than anything PalmOne has been yacking out lately.
i thought i'd put a little comment here regarding this.
mainly because i've worked so closely with tapwave in the past; and, i think some people maybe taking this news a little the wrong way when dealing with tapwave and the zodiac.
tapwave made it clear; in a recent interview with tapland - that it will be discontinuing its zodiac line. this is not a shock; and, the announcement on the tapwave site surely just makes that happen. this means, that any zodiac related assets within the company will be liquidated and sold off to external parties.
this doesn't mean that tapwave; the company is necessarially going out of business. they have more than enough right to sell their zodiac concept to recover assets/losses from running the zodiac business. with this in place; tapwave may be able to start focusing on additional markets and/or products.
a good example of how this has happened before is handera. handera- used to product palmos handhelds. they then stopped making them and as a result exist purely in the market as a 3rd party consulting company (working for palmone/palmsource and the alphasmart company).
until i hear from byron connell personally that tapwave inc. is liquidating itself as a company - there still is a future for tapwave as a company; just not with the zodiac product line.
---
Aaron Ardiri
PalmOS Certified Developer
#7 The zodiacs far more complete emulation than the PSP at this point in time. The Zodiac has NES SNES Gensesis TG16 MAME NGPC GB Master Gear Game Gear and more. I have no doubt that the PSP's more advanced hardware and wider audience will eventually yield greater emulation than that which is available for the Zodiac but at its current state emulation on the Zodiac is at a much more mature stage than that on the PSP.
Its a shame to see them closing their doors(on the zodiac at least) but it can't really be said it was unexpected. Right now I am just hoping that they will either open the signing system or distribute the DAA(allows unsigned apps to run).
Im a great fan of portable gaming, but in my opinion the Zodiac was a poor console, first of, it had a poor selection of games (see www.allack.co.uk), duke nukem, Doom 2, THPS4 are all so outdated...
Then there's the portable video player part. Well the Zodiac takes SD cards which is a good thing, but last time I looked in Dixons, the Zodiac (and i think it was the Zodiac 2) was £300... This is well overpriced, even for a "mature games console" (post 13). For the same price you can get a well equipped PDA, that can emulate PSX games.
To conclude, the console failed because it had a poor array of games, and it was not unique, unlike most other handheld gaming platforms:
- GBA - first of its kind to hit mass market
- DS - Dual screen/touch screen
- PSP - Brilliant screen, web browser, lots of quality games/homebrew
- GP32 - opensource/emulator
- Gizmondo - GPS/Camera/SMS
Anyway, Rant over.
I hope the price drops, then I'd get one. I collect video game systems.
Hmm, where will the Stargate Atlantis crew get their support from now? (their PDA was the Zodiac, compared to the original Stargate team, which used a Philips Pronto remote control. I still haven't figured out how to read 'neutrino gate flux' off of mine yet..)
I bought a Zodiac way back when, as it had better specs than most Palms out there, including a gorgeous 320x480 screen and a hefty metal case. However, I was hoping someone would port Linux over to this (a la the Sharp Zaurus), but it never happened. Still looking for a Macromedia Flash player, or the ability to 'dual screen' it with Longhorn, as others have done with extra PocketPCs.
I've owned a Zodiac1 for close to 2 years, and when it works it's hands down the best Palm OS PDA: the multimedia features rocked and the emulation scene is the most hardcore out there, virtually every legacy system is supported. The 'official' games have never been anything to be proud of, but the emulators filled that void admirably. The major problem has always been a very poor quality control operation, I've RMA'd my Z1 4 times, this is not unusual in the Zodiac community.
That said, this is very sad, there's nothing right now that has a screen to rival the Zodiac, and I'm not sure I can go back to portrait screen orientation, landscape is way more natural. And to the guy who said the Z required two hands: it's perfectly balanced (weight and control interface) for one-handed operation. I could go on, but I'm just going to go find a corner to cry in.
It's been a bad week for me, first Rio and now this...
Disappointed, but not surprised. I've owned a Z2 for quite a while now. I love it. I bought it because, at the original price of $399, its stats and form were better than the Tungsten T3.
I know from reading posts on the fan sites that they have had problems, in terms of failing hardware and terrible customer service. For the record, mine has and does work perfectly. I synchronize daily with Outlook and will probably continue to use it until it dies.
Those who point out the lack of dedicated game titles are correct; anyone who bought it as a game device probably didn't make the best choice. But, as a palm device that has a unique interface, good game play (incl. emulation), mp3 playback, and even movie playback, it was peerless.
My biggest disappointment is that there is nothing as cool out there with which to replace it when it finally dies.
Hopefully, it will last long enough for someting equally cool to come along.
Aaron,
I remember a discussion a couple of years ago on Zodiacgamer about this very subject... Tapwave going out of business. The discussion revolved around the question of what to do if you had to replace your Zodiac (because you lost/broke yours).
Most of the software written specifically for the Zodiac has DRM tied to the devices unique serial number, for software piracy purposes.
When Tapwave wasn't around to relicense all your purchased software now that your device has a different serial number, you are basically out of luck.
So, does this mean you will now release your software that spoofs a Zodaic's serial number with one of your choosing?
Russ
(Zodiac 2 owner)
As a Zodiac user who has owned and used several other PDAs over the years (including a Newton MP2100), I can say that the Zodiac is probably one of the best PDAs ever built in terms of features, capabilities, and design.
Tapwave made some missteps along the way which probably doomed the Zodiac from the start, including a slow and limited retail rollout, limited marketing, and early hardware (the analog controller calibration) problems.
As a small startup with a team comprised of several Palm OS and Apple Newton veterans, they had the right vision: "The world's first true multimedia handheld." wasn't just a bunch of marketing hype. Unlike most other PDAs up to that point including Sony's Clie line, no other device struck such a fine balance between gaming controls and traditional PDA functionality. It's too bad that they couldn't attract the developer support needed to bring 1st rate titles to the Zodiac to attract hard-core gamers. It's also unfortunate that as such a small startup with limited marketing muscle, Tapwave didn't get their message out loud enough to their targeted demographic.
If they had seeded a viral marketing campaign or pilot program on college campuses touting the wireless multiplayer capabilities of the Zodiac along with its ability to excel at being a device for students far better than the iPod (think the Duke iPod Pilot program), I think Tapwave would have had a better chance.
It's really sad that a small company who truly were handheld prognosticators couldn't succeed or even survive. If you look at the direction Sony is going with the PSP by adding PDA functionality and web browsing, and how other PDA manufacturers are adding more multimedia and *gasp* gaming capabilities, it's obvious that Tapwave had the right vision, but had a poor business model.
Now all Zodiac owners know how Newton owners felt in 1998. Like the Newton, the Zodiac has a dedicated and outspoken community that will keep the platform alive well into the foreseable future.
I ahve just seen my first one today in PC World and I was impressed by the screen resolution, howvever I wont be purchasing one unless they are being sold for about £50 or less.
Tapwave had the right idea. Hell, the Sony PSP would be even better if you could commercially download PalmOS to it for those users that wanted better PDA functionality along with the game playing (I feel the same way about the iPod too). Perhaps Apple will come in and scoop up the hardware team and give them positions in the iPod division...
'Now all Zodiac owners know how Newton owners felt in 1998. Like the Newton, the Zodiac has a dedicated and outspoken community that will keep the platform alive well into the foreseable future'
Amen to that brother. But what do we do about RMA's?
boogie_doggie wrote:
>Amen to that brother. But what do we do about RMA's?
Cross our fingers and hope that a company like www.jksalesinc.com will get into the Zodiac refurb/repair business just as they did with the Newton?
Brian: Your wish may come true! We (J&K Sales, Inc.) are working on selling Zodiac products and providing support. - Ken
Great post by Brian #20.
The Zodiac is my favorite PDA of all time - great specs, beautiful design and does everything well, particularly movies/music/photos.
In #20, Brian pretty well nailed it: super device, poor marketing. I'm sorry it wasn't more of a success.
Best of luck to the team at Tapwave in future endeavors. :)
Best PDA. I didn't care about games. That was just a bonus. As for it not looking professional... what's the matter with people? It is metal, dark, smooth and professional looking to me.
I too do not know what I will replace my Zodiac2 with when it dies. Hopefully that wont happen for a long time because the PDA market just became as crappy as the cell phone market. They're all Linux or Windows (or something else equally slow, unreliable, un-appliance-like and poorly purposed). Now the PDA and cell phone will merge and it will be one big pile of crap like our current "Personal Computer" market.
Computers suck. What a load of poo.
Oh... an irony...
When I received my Zodiac2, I flipped it over and saw "First Edition" on the back. I promptly said out loud "Yeah, LAST Edition, is more like it..." and proceeded to enjoy the device extensively.
well, at the end of the price drop in the uk, the zodiac1 was 39.99 pounds. i got my zodiac 2 for 100, and i've never been happier. i was gonna get a psp, but no homebrew? no thanks. besides, most of the games for the psp are watered down ports. plus, the psp has no touchscreen. i actually bought mine for games.
received a zodiac 1 for christmas,2004; droped it off a locomotive & destroyed the display. wrote to tapwave & they said it was not a warranty repair & it would cost @ $150.00 to replace. came into some extra $ (wife did not now about my mad-cash stash) & now tapwave is gone. goning to miss that zodiac, listened to music & played acid solitaire while in sidings.