Gizmondo Board in the News Again: Resigning Members Ex-Gangsters!
Directors leaving company with pockets lined.
Gizmondo today announce new appointments to top brass jobs in the company’s European arm, in response to resignations following the handheld device’s launch in the USA. Steve Carroll, the boffin behind the technical creation of the Gizmondo itself, is to step up as Managing Director, while Steven Law and Davis Levett will report to him as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Software Architect respectively.
You may remember that Gizmondo was involved in a furore over fat cat allegations following the publication of their 10K report, which appeared to show evidence of rampant palm-greasing. They spoke to SPOnG exclusively in response to the accusations.
Now comes the revelation that three of the recently resigned Swedish businessmen have been convicted of some pretty serious stuff in the past. Stefan Eriksson, Peter Uf and ‘Head of Security’ Johan Enander all have criminal convictions behind them. Eriksson and Uf were convicted of fraud and counterfeiting, while Enander comes out sounding like a hired goon, amid reports that he was released from serving time for an assault conviction immediately before being taken on at Gizmondo. He is now wanted by the Swedish police. So notorious were the trio that they were dubbed ‘The Uppsala Mafia’ by the Swedish Press. You might recall Stefan Eriksson was reported as receiving in excess of $100,000 towards his car in the 10K.
Perhaps the biggest name leaving the company is co-founder Carl Freer, who wishes to continue his entrepreneurial adventures. His name caught everyone’s attention when they read that he too had received $100,000+ towards his car. Not only that, but his wife, Anneli Freer received two payments totalling more than $170,000, in return for ‘invaluable contributions’ to the company.
When we spoke to Gizmondo, the company was keen to downplay the significance of the evidently substantial perks that their directors enjoy. The fact that so many are leaving before the machine has even launched in Europe puts a rather different complexion on things. They’re keeping a brave face on though, with CEO of parent company Tiger Telematics, Michael Carrender, saying that "We are pleased with the board in place to lead the company through its critical execution stage."
You may remember that Gizmondo was involved in a furore over fat cat allegations following the publication of their 10K report, which appeared to show evidence of rampant palm-greasing. They spoke to SPOnG exclusively in response to the accusations.
Now comes the revelation that three of the recently resigned Swedish businessmen have been convicted of some pretty serious stuff in the past. Stefan Eriksson, Peter Uf and ‘Head of Security’ Johan Enander all have criminal convictions behind them. Eriksson and Uf were convicted of fraud and counterfeiting, while Enander comes out sounding like a hired goon, amid reports that he was released from serving time for an assault conviction immediately before being taken on at Gizmondo. He is now wanted by the Swedish police. So notorious were the trio that they were dubbed ‘The Uppsala Mafia’ by the Swedish Press. You might recall Stefan Eriksson was reported as receiving in excess of $100,000 towards his car in the 10K.
Perhaps the biggest name leaving the company is co-founder Carl Freer, who wishes to continue his entrepreneurial adventures. His name caught everyone’s attention when they read that he too had received $100,000+ towards his car. Not only that, but his wife, Anneli Freer received two payments totalling more than $170,000, in return for ‘invaluable contributions’ to the company.
When we spoke to Gizmondo, the company was keen to downplay the significance of the evidently substantial perks that their directors enjoy. The fact that so many are leaving before the machine has even launched in Europe puts a rather different complexion on things. They’re keeping a brave face on though, with CEO of parent company Tiger Telematics, Michael Carrender, saying that "We are pleased with the board in place to lead the company through its critical execution stage."
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Comments
DoctorDee 28 Oct 2005 06:16
1/1
I was very interested to receive a marketing email from Maplins recently in which they were heavily pushing the "Gizmondo Portable in-car Navigation System" with hardly a mention of its ability to play games.
Although the Gizmondo was launched with much Hoopla as a games machine, it must be clear to EVERYONE that it has failed comprehensively in this arena - no amount of talk about a widescreen version next year will change that. There are almost no games for the machine almost a year after launch.
As a portable GPS navigation system, however, the unit is attractively priced (if a little florid in its design for such a utilitarian purpose). A few weeks ago, Maplins was knocking them out for £200. But there was limited to one per customer at this knock down special price. Today, I put three in my basket at that price, without a problem, so even heavy marketing by Maplins failed to shift stock in channel.
Of course, you need to buy an in-car cradle for £40 and media to hold the maps - and once you do that it's price is much closer to that of nicer units like the NavMan ICN 520 which ships with screen mount.
Feedback from Maplins customers for the GPS sytem is good. Remember what telematics means? Parent company Tiger has plently of skills in vehicle positioning - but none in games. Maybe its a market they should stick to.
Although the Gizmondo was launched with much Hoopla as a games machine, it must be clear to EVERYONE that it has failed comprehensively in this arena - no amount of talk about a widescreen version next year will change that. There are almost no games for the machine almost a year after launch.
As a portable GPS navigation system, however, the unit is attractively priced (if a little florid in its design for such a utilitarian purpose). A few weeks ago, Maplins was knocking them out for £200. But there was limited to one per customer at this knock down special price. Today, I put three in my basket at that price, without a problem, so even heavy marketing by Maplins failed to shift stock in channel.
Of course, you need to buy an in-car cradle for £40 and media to hold the maps - and once you do that it's price is much closer to that of nicer units like the NavMan ICN 520 which ships with screen mount.
Feedback from Maplins customers for the GPS sytem is good. Remember what telematics means? Parent company Tiger has plently of skills in vehicle positioning - but none in games. Maybe its a market they should stick to.