Zeebo Inc. was an American consumer electronics company and creator of the Zeebo entertainment and education system. Designed for "emerging markets" in countries such as

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, India and China, the Zeebo system (or "Zeebo") runs videogames and other interactive content delivered via wireless 3G

digital distribution Digital distribution, also referred to as content delivery, online distribution, or electronic software distribution, among others, is the delivery or distribution of digital media content (media), content such as Sound recording and reproductio ...

. This approach is intended to thwart piracy and reduce the cost of content. The system also enables wireless Internet access for web browsing, email and social networking. The Zeebo was sold throughout Brazil and Mexico, and the company has discussed the possibility of future product introductions elsewhere in Latin America, in India, China and Russia.

Founding

By the company's own account, the initial idea for the Zeebo system occurred independently to Reinaldo Normand, who was then at Tectoy Mobile (a division of the Brazilian consumer electronics company

Tectoy Tec Toy S.A., trading as Tectoy since late 2007, is a Brazilian toy and electronics company headquartered in São Paulo. It is best known for producing, publishing, and distributing Sega consoles and video games in Brazil. The company was founde ...

), and Mike Yuen, senior director of games and services at

Qualcomm Qualcomm () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software, and services related to wireless technology. It owns patents critical to the 5G, 4 ...

. Normand sought backers for the project in the United States, and helped formed a small U.S.-based division of Tectoy, called Tectoy of America, in 2007. He then met Yuen, and the two discovered that they were pursuing similar concepts. During that time Mike Yuen was working with Dave Durnil, Director of Engineering at Qualcomm who designed and built the first working prototype of a 3G wireless gaming and entertainment console. Qualcomm decided to fund the project, and 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.

Product launch

The company introduced the Zeebo in limited quantities in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, 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. In December, 2009, the Zeebo went on sale nationwide in Mexico.

Organization and partnerships

Zeebo Inc. had its headquarters in San Diego, California with offices in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

, Brazil,

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

, Mexico and

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, China. Zeebo marketing and development in Brazil are carried out by Zeebo Brasil, Zeebo Inc.'s Brazilian subsidiary. Marketing and development in Mexico was carried out by the Mexican subsidiary Zeebo Mexico. Manufacturing and distribution were provided by regional partners such as Tectoy in Brazil. Wireless bandwidth was provided by telecommunications partners such as Claro in Brazil and

Telcel Telcel is a Mexican wireless telecommunications company, owned by América Móvil. Founded in 1984 and based in Mexico City, Telcel is the leading provider of wireless communications services in Mexico. As of December 31, 2006, Telcel's cellular ...

in Mexico. Zeebo also announced an agreement with

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

in March, 2010. The company has stated that "The agreement gives us access to AT&T's international roaming network, allowing us to carry out rapid trials of the Zeebo platform in new geographic areas as we establish longer-term agreements with local carriers for deployment of the system. It will also give us a chance to explore opportunities in the US market in the future." In June, 2010, it was reported that Zeebo Inc. raised $13.5 million in its latest round of venture funding.

References

External links

Corporate Website (Archive)
{{in lang, en Video game publishers Companies based in San Diego Video game development companies Multinational companies headquartered in the United States American companies established in 2007 American companies disestablished in 2014 Video game companies established in 2007 Video game companies disestablished in 2014 Defunct video game companies of the United States Defunct companies based in California 2007 establishments in California 2014 disestablishments in California