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History
The idea behind the Zeebo was conceived by both Reinaldo Normand and Mike Yuen. Reinaldo Normand who was working at Tectoy Mobile at the time had an idea to develop an online-enabled video game console. While searching for backers for its project, Reinaldo met Mike Yuen which was senior director of games and services at Qualcomm, which had a similar concept in mind. Qualcomm decided to fund the project and had Dave Durnil, Director of Engineering at Qualcomm, designed and built the first working prototype of a 3G wireless gaming and entertainment console. At this point, Tectoy of America became Zeebo Inc. In March, 2008. Normand joined the executive staff and was given responsibility for worldwide special projects. Dave Durnil became an engineering advisor for Zeebo Inc. Yuen left Qualcomm and was named Zeebo’s senior vice president of content and services in August, 2009. He served as president and CEO.
Release
The company introduced the Zeebo in limited quantities in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on June 1, 2009, with manufacturing and distribution provided by Tectoy. The system went on sale nationwide in Brazil in November the same year. During that time, the system had multiple price drop from R$499,00 at launch to R$399,00 in September 2009 and R$299,00 by November of the same year in November 2009, the Zeebo went on sale nationwide in Mexico and was planned to be sold in China. Zeebo Inc. announced an agreement with AT&T in March 2010 and in June, 2010, it was reported that Zeebo Inc. raised $13.5 million in its latest round of venture funding. On September 1, 2010 Zeebo announced a number of new games and educational applications to be launched in 2010 and 2011. Things where going well.
Demise
On May 27, 2011 Zeebo Inc decided to drop their flagship console to work on a new Android-based platform with a 2012 launch date. The focus would now be interactive education to emerging markets around the world, with near-term operations and business interests centered on India. To this end, it Zeebo also announced its end of operations in Brazil and Mexico. According to the company, all games would undergo a price reduction and Zeebonet 3G would remain active until September 30, and all warranty services would be honored. The company finally closed their door in 2014 without ever releasing their next console. At that time, their website was still showing a 2012 planned release date for their upcoming console.