Gizmondo
The handheld with GPS, a camera and adverts, sold by a company run by Swedish gangsters, gone in a year
The Gizmondo was a Windows CE handheld games console from Tiger Telematics, a Florida-listed company run from London by Carl Freer and Stefan Eriksson, launched in the UK on 19 March 2005 at £229 (or £129 with adverts) and in the US on 22 October 2005 at $399. It had a 2.8-inch screen, GPS, a camera and GPRS, and fourteen games. Gizmondo Europe collapsed into liquidation on 7 February 2006 with about $300 million of debt after roughly 25,000 sales.
Timeline [edit]
- 2004
-
March 2004
other
Gizmondo announced
Regent Street shop, F1 sponsorship, Park Lane party.
- 2005
-
19 March 2005
Launch
UK launch
£229, or £129 with three adverts a day.
-
22 October 2005
Launch
US launch
$399, or $229 with adverts.
- 2006
-
20 January 2006
Shutdown announced
Gizmondo Europe applies for administration
Tiger Telematics has lost $210 million in nine months.
-
7 February 2006
Shutdown
Ordered into liquidation
About $300 million of debt, 25,000 units sold.
-
21 February 2006
Incident
The Ferrari Enzo crash
Director Stefan Eriksson, 162 mph, Malibu.
- 2008
-
11 September 2008
other
Gizmondo 2 announced
It never appears.
How it looked [edit]
The site through time
Browse gizmondo.com as it was, via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine:
Ownership [edit]
Key figures [edit]
| Metric | Value | As of | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Downloads ▲ | 25,000 | 7 February 2006 | Estimated Approximate lifetime sales |
Confirmed official figures · Reported media, cites a source · Estimated analyst or our estimate
Why it shut down [edit]
Official line: Gizmondo Europe applied for administration in the High Court on 20 January 2006 and was ordered into liquidation on 7 February 2006, with debts of around $300 million; parent Tiger Telematics had lost $210 million in the first nine months of 2005 alone. About 25,000 units had been sold. Two weeks after the collapse director Stefan Eriksson crashed a Ferrari Enzo at 162 mph in Malibu, and it emerged that he and other executives had convictions in Sweden for fraud and organised crime, which is the part of the story everyone remembers.
Our analysis: The Gizmondo was a real device, an ARM9 handheld with GPS, a camera, Bluetooth, GPRS and an advertising model in which watching three adverts a day got you a £100 discount, that could not possibly have beaten the DS and PSP even if the company had been honest. It was not: the money went on Regent Street offices, a Park Lane launch party with Sting, executive Ferraris and directors who turned out to be Uppsala mafia figures. Fourteen games shipped. It is the industry's reference case for a console as a vehicle for something else.
History [edit]
Regent Street
Tiger Telematics, formerly a Florida floor-tile company, announced the Gizmondo in 2004 with a flagship store on Regent Street, a Formula One sponsorship and a launch party at the Park Lane Hotel with Sting, Busta Rhymes and Pharrell. The device, delayed from October 2004, reached British shops on 19 March 2005: a 2.8-inch screen, a 400 MHz Samsung ARM9, Windows CE, GPS, a VGA camera, Bluetooth, GPRS for messaging and, the novelty, Smart Adds, an option to pay £129 instead of £229 in return for watching three targeted adverts a day. Sweden and other European markets followed, and the United States on 22 October 2005 at $399, or $229 with adverts.
The Nintendo DS had launched four months before it and the PSP arrived in the West the same week; the Gizmondo had fourteen games, among them Sticky Balls, Trailblazer, Richard Burns Rally and a version of SSX 3, and a GPS-based Colors that never quite worked. Roughly 25,000 units were sold in total.
Liquidation and the Enzo
Tiger Telematics reported a loss of $210 million for the first nine months of 2005, much of it stock issued for "services", and stopped paying its bills. Gizmondo Europe applied for administration on 20 January 2006 and was ordered into liquidation on 7 February 2006 with debts put at $300 million; David Rubin & Partners took the assets and Begbies Traynor was asked to find out where the money had gone. On 21 February Stefan Eriksson, a director, crashed a $1 million Ferrari Enzo into a pole on the Pacific Coast Highway at 162 mph and told police a man called Dietrich had been driving. Swedish newspapers then reported that Eriksson, Carl Freer and colleagues had convictions for fraud and links to the Uppsala mafia; Eriksson was later jailed in California and deported. Freer announced a Gizmondo 2 in 2008 that never appeared. The Regent Street shop is now something else.
The domain today
gizmondo.com is unconnected to the console.
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Sources [edit]
- Gizmondo UK debut set for 29 October The Register 10 September 2004 [archived]
- Gizmondo gears up for US launch The Register 24 December 2004 [archived]
- Gizmondo confirms U.S. launch plans Game Developer 7 October 2005 [archived]
- Gizmondo Europe to be liquidated Engadget 7 February 2006 [archived]
- Gizmondo Europe folds Gizmodo 7 February 2006
- Gizmondo Europe goes into liquidation HEXUS 7 February 2006 [archived]
- Former Gizmondo exec's crashed $1m Ferrari Enzo Engadget 22 February 2006 [archived]
- Gizmondo 2.0 launching this year TechRadar 11 September 2008 [archived]
- The Gizmondo: remembering the Swedish mafia's bizarre and ambitious game console Inverse 10 December 2019 [archived]
Last verified: 16 August 2026. Spotted an error? Suggest an edit (corrections with sources are reviewed and applied).