Creative, ZiiLABS to Host First Zii Summit In First Week of December
When I read the Singapore Business-Times article over on epiZENter yesterday, there was a curious mention of demonstrations at a ‘Shenzen conference’. Not being particularly great with China’s second busiest port city, I thought it was just an industry conference. However, that has changed with the press release from ZiiLABS today, which announced a ‘Zii Summit’ for December 1-2 in Shenzen. According to the press release, Creative CEO Sim Wong Hoo, in addition to the head of ZiiLABS, Hock Leow, will be giving keynote addresses on the first day in addition to a press conference. More importantly, however, is the seminar that will be held over the two days to showcase the ‘technology, platforms, products, services, and content’ of the Zii ecosystem. Simultaneously, however, is the real point of the summit- to showcase the full range of Zii-powered devices. The wording in the press release, which is copied below, is overwhelmingly positive as all press releases are, mentions multiple Zii-powered products. The door has been locked shut on any leaks thus far to upcoming devices, but it seems that this will open the floodgates. I’m certainly excited. (more…)
MediaBook- Creative Intros eBook+ For Singapore Market
Creative’s always done a “side project”. Over the company’s history, they’ve done some projects that never fanned out very well: digital video cams, video cards, wireless cards, PC components, and internet telephony devices. This seems like it could be a more successful venture, and it’s the ‘in’ thing for 2009. It appears to be an e-book reader.
But according to epiZENter, it’s far more. (more…)
Android Hitting Zii EGG This Week?
GenerationMP3 is reporting on an Android update this week to the Zii EGG- exciting news!
ZiiLABS Press Release ZiiLABS Announces Graphics and HD Video Acceleration for Adobe Flash Player, AIR Support
More good news on the Zii front. HD Video acceleration and full Flash support have officially been announced by ZiiLABS. On a more surprising front, AIR support will be coming to the Zii EGG platform. Read more for the entire lowdown. (more…)
Creative to Gain $6.1 Million, Guess When Zii Will Be Announced
Thanks to awesome tipster Sim (unknown relation to Creative CEO Sim Wong Hoo) , we’ve uncovered quite a lot about what’s forthcoming from Creative in the Zii department. Over on epiZENter, ramakandra relayed from his sources that the ZEN X-Fi2 isn’t meant as a full replacement for the X-Fi itself, but rather a way to reduce parts inventory and testing the waters for the Zii consumer model. Seemed feasible enough at the time, but now Sim has dropped the same commentary on our post about the X-Fi2:
As for the Zen touch screen x-fi2, I think some smart people have guessed correctly why it had to be released. It will make sure we will continue to generate sufficient revenue so as to cut losses and possibly break even this holiday season while we prepare for the Zii updates…
Breaking even over this quarter would amount to quite a turnabout for the Singapore company, who has posted losses for several straight quarters. Helping to feed that ambition is $6.1 million in funding from a divestment in QALA Singapore, a local ISP. I’m certainly not an expert in the world of finance, so correct me in the comment section, but this divestment is like pulling an investment from a company that you had previously funded. Creative originally invested $1.6 million, so the net gain is $4.5 million over time, a very smart investment. Qala needs not fear, however, as they were just bought by MobileOne, a major Singapore cell carrier for $10.3 million US. Clearly, this is meant to clear funding for the Zii launch.
Speaking of the Zii launch, Sim also dropped a link to the recently updated ZiiLABS.com events page, which shows when and where ZiiLABS will be demonstrating products over the next couple of months. Here they are:
IBC 2009
Amsterdam
11th – 15th September 2009Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2010)
Las Vegas
7th – 10th January, 2010World Mobile Congress (Mobile World Congress, misnamed by ZiiLABS)
Barcelona, Spain
15th – 18th, February 2010
I’ll be putting my money, if I had any, on CES as the big announcement, as this is a Creative tradition to announce stuff a couple of days prior to the convention, then having a media blitz over the convention days. The company has garnered three “CES Best in Show” awards in the last decade, and they sure would enjoy a fourth. It’s almost more interesting to see the MWC announcement- perhaps a mobile carrier partner will be lined up by then?
This Week in EGG
The internet has gotten hold of the EGG, and as such have revealed their first impressions. Browse through some of these and let us know what you think below in the comment section!
Our sister site: ZiiEGG.com
Also, Engadget unveiled a roadmap for development on the platform, which you can see in this article.
Additionally, ZiiLABS has announced that they will be using the Wolfson WM8350 audio chip in the device for audio processing. This will work in union with the ZMS-05 processor, which will do almost all of the work except audio processing. It’s an interesting step, but the chip claims to be a very power-efficient one, and could increase battery life for the audio side. Read more about the WM8350 here, and read the ZiiLABS press release below.
A Bit More on the Zii EGG
After the release of the EGG, there was much excitement about the “next big thing” from the little company that could. However, there were also a few issues that sprung up regarding the shipment unit- and I got some answers.
- Despite the various differences around the web with regards to capitalization and spelling, the official product name is the Zii EGG – with the entire EGG part capitalized.
- The HD cable is not included with the SDK package- and the box contents over at ZiiLABS is much clearer. The device box will include the following: the Zii EGG, earphones, a USB cable, the wall charger, and a warranty card.
- The 32GB included in the SDK promotion is embedded in the device. This is not the 0GB device that ZiiLABS offers to OEMs so they can add 32GB of storage via SDHC.
- The device is of matte plastic material. A comparison shot can be seen here on a fake iPhone.
- Currently the only shipping countries are those listed. No mention of you poor Australian people who want the device.
- No new information on the battery life. The focus at this point is on developers and thus there is no stable benchmark for battery life.
- The SDK contains all the tools, libraries and example applications to get developers started. It will be officially supported under Ubuntu 8.04 using the Eclipse program. This is great because people who are on any system now can (for free) install Ubuntu as a secondary OS to program in without messing up the Windows/Mac system. And if you’re already in Ubuntu, then you know how to manage your OS properly and probably already know a decent amount of programming.
On another note, I’ll be launching an app store over at ZiiEGG.com soon- please post in the forums links to free Android programs so that I can begin building the collection!
Zii Consumer Edition “In Development”
I learned a brief tidbit about the consumer edition Zii- the consumer edition of the Zii EGG is currently in development. By questioning the sales department about interoperability between the EGG and the consumer editions software updates, a bit of previously unconfirmed information was dropped. Note, this is from a customer support rep, so this is definitely not as reliable as someone on the product team, but if they did know this, they would mean it’s fairly widespread at the company. See below for the full text- the top is my question, and the bottom the Creative reply.
Zii Manual and More Pics Dropped By the FCC Confirming Consumer Model
The government and their loud mouths. After their little oopsie back when the Zii EGG was listed, they again have dropped a few files onto the FCC server with unreleased information on what appears to be a consumer manual for a Creative branded Zii. Additionally, they have posted some poorly taken images of the inside for us interested. Though they’re difficult to see, it appears that the battery is not removable, but rather replacable by the user like the Vision:M- takes a bit of work and voids your warranty- but looks possible if the shell is cracked.
Of note, the manual was written in March 2009- five months ago! The new Creative seems to have a top-notch secrecy plan in place. The only leak seems to be the bezel, which was mistaken for an iPod one (Caution: Apple fans may bite). The timeline is right- at the end of May, there would have been a good likelihood that a bezel was being sent for manufacturing with a target release at the end of August. Why is a consumer model confirmed? Because the follwing was found in the manual: (more…)
Opera to Power Zii EGG Platform
Today, ZiiLABS, in a rather unshocking move, announced that the Opera Devices SDK has been selected to power the internet browser. As noted in the press release, the company already packages the Opera browser, and this extends it to the SDK. I’m more of a Firefox person myself, but Mozilla seems very uninterested in the mobile space at this time, only releasing a few early builds for a few platforms. Full press release: (more…)
