Tiger Telematics

Home: Tiger Telematics

Here lies the body of Tiger Telematics. Born in 2000. (Well, technically it was 2002 but with a life this short, does it really matter?) Died in 2006 due to the consequences of massive – and I do mean MASSIVE – criminally motivated decisions. There were huge payments made to closely related companies for purchases never actually made. There was a top executive linked to the mob. The company was spending so much money before the launch of its first console it's a wonder they ever even got to the prototype stage let alone to the actual launch date.

I'll never know how a publically traded company was allowed to go so long practically SCREAMING, "I'm a sham!" I suppose it was the product potential. The handheld that was to be Tiger Telematics' claim to fame was the Gizmondo. Feature rich, this device was suppose to replace just about any pocket-size gadget commonly carried en masse. It was a video game, a camera, a music player and a video player (think full feature films). Oh, and it had GPS capabilities too which were to be incorporated into games created exclusively for the Gizmondo.

I suspect there is more to this story to come because according to Wikipedia, "In April 2008, a press release was issued that an agreement was reached between the joint liquidators of Gizmondo Europe Ltd in Liquidation and one of the company's ex Directors, Mr. Carl Freer. The press release originated as a low quality copy of a letter purported to be from one of the accounting firms handling the insolvency, posted to a file sharing site. According to Mr. Freer ‘the shareholders of Tiger Telematics will now be able to prosper on the re-introduction of the Gizmondo into the market.'"

True or not someone is determined to write another chapter in this story. Who knows, maybe the whole thing is an elaborate plan to strike a movie deal. I mean seriously, it has everything; lying, stealing, the mafia, lavish star-studded parties, prison, fast luxurious sports cars. I'm sure we could shake out either a damsel in distress or a jaded lady from somewhere in this company's story. Then, all that would be missing would be an obscure connection to Kevin Bacon.