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?
ZEN X-Fi2- Touchscreen Update to the X-Fi includes TV out, FLAC support, 3″ Screen
Waited for the touchscreen DAP to be announced? Wait no longer. Creative has announced the X-Fi2, a major update to the ZEN X-Fi. The most important of the new features is the new 3″ touchscreen, which will be a first for a Creative consumer model. The new user input method results in a new revision of the UI, which is evident in several video shots of the player. However, that’s not all that is being updated. There is support for lossless audio in the form of FLAC, video out via composite video cable, full drag and drop support with both Windows and Mac, and a change to microSD expansion. FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) , for those who are unaware, is an open-source audio codec that allows for superb audio quality by an algorithm that results in no loss of audio quality during compression, see Wikipedia for more. The TV out will come via an accessory cable which will not be packaged with the player at the outset, but will be available immediately in the store. Similar to the top-notch Creative ZEN Vision:M and Vision:W, the player will support video up to 640×480 resolution videos. There’s no confirmation if the player will output at those resolutions, but it’s a good bet. The X-Fi2’s screen is 400×240, an upgrade from the original’s 320×240.
Notably absent from the specification list is the Wi-Fi, which I think is a good move. The X-Fi appealed to audio buyers, and the WiFi was half baked. It’s good to see they focused on the selling points of the player rather than trying to disastrously fix it.
Keep reading for the full specs and videos!
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.
Creative Patents Found For “Drag and Drop” on Touchscreen Devices, Revealing Tabbed Web Browsing
Remember when Creative took Apple’s lunch when they stole the ZEN UI? It seems like another Creative patent may come into play down the line to buffer the bottom line. This time, it’s for a drag and drop user interface for touchscreen devices. It was filed back in January 2008 under the 3DLabs brand, but it nontheless shows that the company has been working on the touchscreen for almost eighteen months. This is a patent application, and thus is not an official patent until the USPTO approves the application.
It seems that the way that the device will work is having an “action” area of the screen where the object (music title, album, video) is dragged onto the action tab with the finger. The copy/paste method also seems to be implemented this way- and the ability to copy/paste media files is a first for a Creative device.
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…)
Creative’s Back, Stock Hits Eleven Month High
Wow! After the announcement of the THX partnership and news about the ZiiEGG, many in the Creative community (myself included) felt like the company had pulled a 180° and was now sailing into a brighter, more positive future. Apparently, the markets feel the same way- Creative stock is up massively. The price opened at $5.95 per share on Tuesday- a 30% uptake in one day. Unheard of. As of this post, it’s up another $1.10 today- another 20% increase by my math. These are levels that the company hasn’t seen quite some time- eleven months according TODAYonline. It seems that the press is taking note as well: Reuters, TODAYonline, and ChannelNewsAsia all have stories featuring Creative. TODAYonline even opened with the following line: “Is entrepreneur Sim Wong Hoo crafting a new strategy for his company?” Surely this can be only good things for a company that has seen only negative momentum on the stocks- let’s hope the market share for DAPs follows shortly. C’mon Creative!
Singapore Exchange (change company to Creative Technology Ltd)
MyCreativeFansite via epiZENter
TODAYonline- Strategic Shift at Creative Tech?
Reuters- Singapore Hot Stocks
Exclusive Interview With Andrew Audsley of ZiiLABS
A few weeks ago, I sent a few interview questions to Andrew Audsley of ZiiLABS. Not having heard anything from him in thirteen days, I assumed it was a case of overworked PR not having the resources nor desire to respond to a small niche website. Boy, was I wrong! The day that the Zii EGG and Plaszma were launched by the company, I received an email with a full response. Lucky for me, as all of the questions I posed were probably going to be non-answers until the official release date. Most interesting to me was the response to the number of companies working with the ZMS-05, and a suggestion that a ZMS-05 product is coming soon from one of ZiiLABS’ partners. Click through to read the interview!
