Category:Tapwave Zodiac

Tapwave, founded in Mountain View, California in May 2001, introduced the Zodiac mobile entertainment console in October 2003. The product was designed to be a "high performance mobile entertainment system” centered on games, music, pictures, and video for 18 to 34 year old gamers and technology enthusiasts. By running an enhanced version of the Palm Operating System (5.2T), Zodiac also provided access to Palm’s personal information management software and many other applications from the Palm developer community.

The Zodiac console was initially available in two models, Zodiac 1 (32MB) for $299 US, and Zodiac 2 (128MB) for $399 US. Some of the more noteworthy game titles for the product included: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4; Mototrax; Spyhunter; Madden NFL 2005; Doom II: Hell on Earth; Warfare Incorporated; and Duke Nukem Mobile. Due to strong competitive pressures from the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) and lack of funding to drive premier game development and compete effectively in the market, Tapwave discontinued the sale of the console on July 25, 2005 and sold substantially all of its assets to an undisclosed multi-billion dollar corporation in Asia.

While Zodiac sold less than 200,000 units, the console garnered strong product reviews and received many industry awards. A few examples include: Popular Science’s 2003 Best of What’s New (BOWN) Award; Stuff Magazine’s Top 10 Gadgets of the Year for 2004; Wired Magazine’s Fetish Award; CNET’s Editor's Choice Award; PC World’s 2004 Next Gear Innovations Award; PC Magazine’s 1st Place Last Gadget Standing at CES; Handheld Computing Magazines’s Most Innovative PDA of 2003; Time Magazine’s Best Gear of 2003, and Business Week’s Best Products of 2003.