Games May 28, 2009, 2:12PM EST

Zeebo Takes Wireless Gaming to Emerging Markets

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But a console is only as good as its games. In early 2008, with Qualcomm's blessing, Yuen and Normand started recruiting developers. Just before the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Yuen sent e-mails to dozens of his contacts asking if they would meet to discuss a "special project." To keep a low profile, his team held meetings on the fly in the hotel lobby and near the escalators inside the conference center. "We had PowerPoint slides but no prototype or working anything," recalls Yuen. Over the next few months, they landed some big names: Electronic Arts (ERTS), THQ (THQI), Activision-Blizzard (ATVI), Namco Networks (7832.T), Capcom (9697.T), and PopCap.

Even before they had a console or a contract with a wireless carrier, the Zeebo team set an ambitious launch date: Children's Day on Oct. 12, in time for the yearend holidays. Normand worked his contacts at Claro, Brazil's second-biggest wireless operator (controlled by Mexican wireless giant América Móvil (AMX)). To help with the business side of things, Qualcomm hired John Rizzo, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. Rizzo rented an office for Zeebo's five employees about 200 meters down the street from Qualcomm's headquarters.

But as the October deadline approached, Yuen and Normand's team had to make a tough decision. The console was ready but only 6 of the 15 games would be finished on time. Rizzo, Yuen, and Normand felt they didn't have enough games. So they delayed the launch until mid-2009. "We deliberately decided that because we had one chance to make a great first impression," says Rizzo. When the Zeebo is finally released, there will be a dozen games for sale—including FIFA Soccer and Resident Evil 4—and nearly 20 more by September. (By comparison, Nintendo's Wii had about 20 games.)

Setting the Blogosphere Abuzz

There were other benefits to pushing back the launch date. It gave the Zeebo team more time for marketing and testing. In early March, they sent out a few hundred machines to volunteer testers, who alerted them about a bug in the console's operating software. They fixed the bug and tweaked the menus to make them easier to use. When they unveiled the Zeebo at this year's Game Developers Conference in March, it set the blogosphere abuzz. Within weeks, Zeebo's offices were inundated with requests from about 1,000 developers in Brazil alone.

Ultimately, Yuen thinks the Zeebo's potential goes beyond gaming. The machine has a USB port and can double as a wireless data modem for a computer to link to the Internet. That's key in emerging markets where consumers can often surf the Net from a mobile device but don't have a broadband connection at home. It also means marketers might go through the Zeebo to reach consumers with an array of videos, music, e-commerce services, and even educational programs. Says Yuen: "A lot of the people we're going after don't own a PC or a laptop. If we could be the first set-top box in the home, who's to say we couldn't offer all these other things?"

Hall is BusinessWeek's technology correspondent in Tokyo.