Wikipedia
The Gizmondo is a handheld gaming console developed by Tiger Telematics. It was released in the UK, Sweden and the U.S. starting March 2005. The electronics design was undertaken by Plextek Limited and the industrial design by Rick Dickinson. From the beginning, the project was managed by the Swedish co-founder of Tiger Telematics, Carl Freer. Its first-party games were developed in studios in Helsingborg, Sweden, and Manchester, England. Gizmondo Europe, Ltd. was based in London, England, and was a subsidiary of Florida-based Tiger Telematics.
The device was cutting-edge for its time, with its capabilities such as Bluetooth, a 1.3-megapixel camera, SMS & MMS, GPS and GPRS. All these were lacked by Sony's PSP and the Nintendo DS. The device ran on Windows CE 4.2 with .NET Framework. The Gizmondo was expected by some journalists to be a commercial success; however, it never met its momentum. The company extravagantly spent millions on promotions such as a celebrity party at London's Park Lane Hotel, and taking part at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, despite never making a profit.
The Gizmondo was overshadowed by executive Stefan Eriksson's involvement in a Swedish criminal organisation, the "Uppsalamaffian" (the Uppsala mafia). Its American debut was delayed several times, and a widescreen version was announced before its release, resulting in low sales. in addition to making other bad business decisions. With fewer than 25,000 units sold, the Gizmondo was named by GamePro as the worst selling handheld console in history. By 6 February 2006, the company was forced into bankruptcy after amassing US$300 million debt, and the Gizmondo stopped production. Weeks thereafter, Eriksson crashed a rare Ferrari Enzo after driving at 162 mph in California, and was later jailed for the crash and his criminal offenses.