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Retail Rollout Revealed
Zodiac hits the bricks on June 24th
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by Scott Raulinaitis, Editor - 6/10/2004 - 12:00am EST
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Page 2
- More details (updated 6/14/2004)
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| Large display for CompUSA's "Mobile Corral" |
I posed Byron Connell several questions about the retail release and he was kind enough to get back to me. In addition, he supplied me with several mockups of how the display will look.
Larger CompUSA stores will position the Zodiac in their "Mobile Corral" alongside other PDAs and close to their MP3 players (at least that's how things are positioned at CompUSA stores near me). As I already mentioned, the Zodiac will get 4 linear feet to showcase the Zodiac, accessories, and several titles. See figure #1 and the close-up image of the main shelf in figure #2.
A small "POP" design will be used in smaller stores and smaller in-store locations. See figure #3. A powered unit will be come out through the round hole in the middle.
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| Figure #2 (close-up of shelf space) |
Tapwave plans to incorporate a custom ROM chip into these display-model Zodiacs in order to show off the features and prevent malicious (or just plain dumb) customers from screwing things up. See figure #4. While I really like that idea, I'm disappointed in the details. According to Byron, the demo application "provides an overview of the device with screen shots, a little video, and a voice over to describe the features and benefits to customers." Seemingly absent is the ability to actually play any of the games. That seems like a major problem there.
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| Figure #3 (smaller display for in-store usage) |
As indicated in the specs on J&R's site, Chapura's PocketMirror will now be bundled. Information to this effect was leaked some time ago, though when we inquired into at that time, the "official" answer still left us wondering. Well, it's final now. What you might not know is that the graphing calculator will no longer be included. This new bundle (with a new SKU) is now available on Tapwave.com site as well. Interestingly enough, while I original criticized the Zodiac for lacking Microsoft Outlook sync functionality, my current opinion is that I'd prefer to see Tapwave eliminate all of the 3rd party software in order to get the price down farther.
I was intrigued by Byron's comments about advertising in his original email to me, so I inquired further. Sadly, there does not appear to be any major television campaign planned, though depending on Tapwave's financial situation, expensive television ads probably wouldn't be the best use of their money anyway. According to Byron, summer advertising plans include "print, online, selective outdoor locations (near some CompUSA stores), and probably in-store TV at CompUSA." Print placements include Wired, Stuff, Play, Game Informer, EGM, PSM (PlayStation Magazine), Mobile PC, Handheld Computing, and others. Online placements include Gamespot.com, CNET, 1Up, etc. Finally, retail partners will run Zodiac ads in their weekend circulars.
Byron indicated that J&R will showcase the Zodiac in both the Mobile Area and Gaming Area. Amazon availability will be this month as well, though it's unclear whether that will be via Amazon's existing J&R partnership (which should certainly feature the Zodiac on Amazon.com), or via a separate arrangement with Amazon specifically. According to Byron, they "will be involved" in J&R's Blues Festival during Father's Day Weekend. As such, it appears that previous indications that the Zodiac would be available exclusively through CompUSA for some period of time have turned out not to be the case.
Overall, this news seems pretty positive. It will be great for people to finally see and hold an actual Zodiac in retail stores. It's also good that J&R and Amazon availability won't be pushed out farther delayed. My main concerns have to do with how good of a job the demonstration application will do at conveying all that the Zodiac can offer, the availability of more high-quality games (and the ability to try at least one solid game in the store), and the price which is still pretty good as compared to other PDAs, but will be a tough sell for gamers.
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| 1 | Overview | | 2 | More details (updated 6/14/2004) |
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