| Home >News > |
Tapwave Zodiac Sighted At CompUSA Stores
Stock found in some stores, but demo displays prove rare
|
by Scott Raulinaitis, Editor - 6/24/2004 - 9:47am EST
|
|
|
| Large display for CompUSA's "Mobile Corral" |
At the end of October 2003 Tapwave began shipping its very first Zodiac handheld entertainment console. Last Tuesday, June 15th, J&R's web site began offering the Zodiac as well. Two days later, Thursday June, 17th, J&R's brick and mortar retail store, located in New York City, became the first retail store where users could fondle a real live Zodiac.
Although CompUSA.com has been showing the Zodiac available for "pre-order" for several days now, the site has been indicating that the units won't ship until the 28th. After double-checking with Byron Connell, Tapwave's VP of Marketing, he confirmed that the 24th was still on target, but that it was possible that not every store would have them on that date. A Michigan-based CompUSA employee posted in our forums on Tuesday that he had seen a demo unit behind closed doors.
So, today is the day. At least in some cities and towns. Taplander Zodman reports seeing the display at the Gwinnett/Atlanta store, but they had none in stock. Taplander RedRamage reports that the Grand Rapids, MI store has them in stock, but doesn't have that fancy-shmancy in-store display we told you about.
Calling your local store to verify that they have a demo model and units in stock could prove tricky, as these phone calls are rerouted to a centralized call unit, rather than to the actual stores. They ought to be able to confirm whether a particular store has them in stock, but they probably won't be able to tell you if that store has a demo unit on display.
Special Demo Mode Explained
In the article where we first revealed the images of the in-store displays, we also told you that the Zodiacs on display would utilize a special ROM image designed to demo various functionality. One point of concern was that these demo models would not allow you to actually play any games. I followed up with Byron who informed me that the demo units have a Flash ROM which can be updated with a newer ROM image later. Further, the special in-store displays will mount to the Zodiac in such a way as to cover the SD slots. This would also allow for these demo units to have a game card installed though, again, a newer ROM image would be needed in order to enable a customer to play a game from a card in the SD slot.
While this current demo may leave a lot to be desired, it's good to know that they thought ahead enough to allow for some flexibility. Hopefully these issues can be worked out prior to the holiday shopping season.
Update:
There's now an official press release about this news. Interestingly, it states, that the Zodiac was "rolled out in all 227 CompUSA stores today." So hopefully this means that finding a store that doesn't have the Zodiac in stock will be more rare than finding one that does.
|
|
| Global Source leather case |
All-New Contest
In celebration of this day, here's a new contest. Send me a photo of the in-store display at your local CompUSA or J&R store. Email said photo at scott at tapland.com. I'll upload the images to my server and display them in a new thread. Once we've got enough good ones, I'll start up a poll where everyone can vote on their favorite photo and the winner will get $50!
Favorite photo, you ask? Won't they all look the same? Well that's where your creativity comes in. Get yourself, a friend, a CompUSA or J&R employee involved in the photo to make it more interesting. Use your imagination, but know that I reserve the right to choose not publish any photos that I feel could be offensive.
Please note: In order to be eligible, your photo must be submitted exclusively to Tapland for the duration of the contest. After the contest is over, you can upload it anywhere you'd like.
Contest Update:
The prize package just got even better! Jun from Global Source PDA has offered to donate one of their black leather play-through cases (a $33 value) to the lucky winner.
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Advertisements |
 |
|