Friday, August 29, 2008

Zeemote zips up deals with Sony Ericsson and Nokia

By Efrain Viscarolasaga

Six months after launching its wireless controller for mobile devices, Zeemote Inc. has signed on its first two handset partners, Nokia Corp. and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, for exclusive distribution deals in Germany and the Netherlands, respectively.

The agreements give Zeemote a beachhead with two of the world’s largest handset makers, but there is more to come, according to officials. Over the next 60 days, the company will be announcing additional partnerships in a rush to get the JS1 mobile gaming controller into as many outlets as possible before the Christmas rush, according to vice president of sales and business development Jim Adams.

In the Sony Ericsson deal, the Zeemote will be paired with the company’s new 3G handset, the W760i. The Nokia deal has the controller available through Nokia’s online and in-store outlets in Germany as part of “gaming bundles” and phones running its S60 platform.

As part of the S60 platform, handsets with a video output can use other screens, such as televisions, as visual interfaces. The addition of the Zeemote makes control of the applications wireless, making the phones de-facto gaming consoles and opening markets where console gaming has yet to garner significant penetration, such as the Middle East and India.

In addition to the distribution deals, Zeemote and Nokia also launched their first collaborative application, called Zeemote Zeekey, which allows the Zeemote controller to work with not only Nokia’s N-Gage games, but other phone applications, including maps, music players and even messaging.

It can also be used outside of phones and gaming, opening the door to controlling GPS devices, music and video players and even medical devices. Those applications, however, are further down the road as Zeemote focuses on the mobile gaming area for the next year, said Adams.

“We believe this is a huge turning point for us and opens the door to a number of new handsets,” said Adams.

Zeemote was founded in 2005 by CTO Beth Marcus. Now employing 22 people, the company raised $6.9 million in funding in late 2007 from Waltham’s Commonwealth Capital Ventures, Boston’s Egan-Managed Capital and Spanish firm Nauta Capital.