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Infinium Phantom Lapboard Coming to PC?
JamesO writes to tell us that Infinium Labs has announced the release of their "Phantom Lapboard" for later this year. From the article: "Infinium Labs' Phantom game service is still to launch, despite claims years ago that it would appear at Christmas 2004, but this hasn't stopped the company from continuing with the system's development. One of the most talked about aspects of the system is its wireless keyboard and mouse combo called the Lapboard. Infinium Labs has decided that the Lapboard is so good that it will be released as a peripheral for PC users in quarter-two 2006. What makes the Lapboard unique is that the keyboard can be angled upwards to create a surface for the mouse to operate on underneath. The device is also wireless and can operate at a distance of up to 30 feet."
The Phantom game service is still very much something Infinium Labs wants to pursue in the future and Infinium Labs CEO Greg Koler believes the release of the Lapboard is "the perfect stepping stone and bridges the subsequent launch of the full service further down the line."
:)
Perfect stepping stone! Subsequent launch, further down the line. Man, this guy just cracks me up. Did he actually make this quote with a straight face? Because I couldn't stop myself from laughing just reading it.
Oh, and anyone else amused by the fact that they have apparently been working on this keyboard for over three years now, but yet it's STILL going to take them another 6 months to get it into peoples hands! If they were that far behind with the keyboard, just imagine where they are with the rest of the system
It's sort of an in-joke. Look at the 2004 article on ITMJ ScuttleMonkey's post links to, which was my final debunking of the whole Phantom/Infinium business, written immediately after a banquet Infinium held for "investors and friends" at Michael's On East, an upscale restaurant in Sarasota, Florida.
:)
During the banquet, which Infinium founder Tim Roberts *insisted* I had to come to (possibly because I'm the only tech journalist in or near Sarasota), he and former Microsoftie Kevin Bachus, who was Infinium President at the time, kept asking me what I thought of their latest business and marketing plan, as in, "Would it succeed?" (Also, Tim kept asking, "How's the food?" which was decent but not great.) And did my much younger friend, Matt Moen, who came with me, think he'd be interested in the Phantom, being he was the "target" age for their marketing program?
As it says in the article, the only interesting or potentially marketable product Matt and I saw from Infinium at that point was their keyboard/mouse thing, which looked like it would be kind of cool for couch computing. Kevin told us they weren't interested in the lapdesk as a product, that they were concentrating on the console and game service, which would debut shortly. Remember: this was in *2004*, and they'd already been saying "Next month, really, we promise, we'll have a product to show you" for nearly two years before that.
Now the lapdesk seems to be the only product the company is actually able to bring to market. So Matt and I get to have a big laugh (which you are free to share), and say, "We told you so!"
- Robin
I don't have an answer to this question. It might be tomorrow, it might be next year, and it might be never.
I am neither an investor nor a prosecutor.
My only contact with Infinium has been to interview several of its CEOs, corporate officers, and board members, read all available information about the company (including SEC filings and its own promotional material), and analyze the company's prospects the same way any competent reporter or analyst would, using provable information instead of rumors, gossip, and hearsay.
If Infinium, its founders, or its major shareholders are ever sued or indicted, I'll probably be subpoenaed as a witness. If that happens I'll let you know.
One word of advice: if you ever think about investing in a tech company (or any other kind of company), check not only the company's obvious financial track record but how well it keeps commitments, including but not limited to releasing products and paying suppliers on time. Information about a company's bill-paying history can be obtained -- for a fee -- through Dun & Bradstreet and other corporate credit reporting agencies. In the Internet age, information about how well a company keeps its product release promises can be obtained free through Google and other search engines.
- Robin