Zeemote to go out of business?
By Dusan Belic on Saturday, November 7th, 2009 at 4:55 AM PST In Rumors
File this under “rumors” as I’m hoping there’s no merit to this story. Apparently the most famous maker (and the only serious one as far as I can tell) of the Bluetooth mobile game controller Zeemote has closed its doors.
Investor Michael Fitzgerald of Commonwealth Capital Ventures is the source behind the rumor, though he declined to comment on details. He also said that the company will attempt to sell the Zeemote JS1 controller assets to some company who would appreciate them (we hope).
The problem was in the price of the JS1 and I honestly don’t see many people pouring out £40 for the controller. On the other side, the company tried to bundle its product with some handset models and in that sense we’ve seen various Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) and Nokia (NYSE: NOK) devices being sold in “gaming bundles” that included a Zeemote controller.
As I said, I’m hoping if the worst happens, some smart company will grab the assets and extend Zeemote’s life…
[Via: PocketGamer.co.uk]
Zeemote was just gaining traction and had recently been used to operate games on the iPhone by hacks. This is a sad day since a couple of JS1 controllers slapped on the ends of an iPhone would put dedicated game portables out of business. What is really behind this move?