News Release
OFFICIAL JAPANESE VERSION OF CHUMBY® TO LAUNCH ON MAY 18, 2009
Launch to include 15 widgets localized for Japanese market
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo — May 18, 2009 — Chumby Industries, Inc. (San Diego, CA) will begin selling official Japanese chumbys through Zyyx, Inc. (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo) on May 18, 2009.
Chumby and Zyyx have been selling the English-language chumby in the Japanese market since late 2008. Due to increased demand, a new international version of the device was created, which offers a Japanese interface and 12 popular widgets specially localized for the Japanese audience. With chumby's open publishing platform, Japanese users and developers can also create and share their own widgets.
chumby Details
Launch Date: Monday, May 18, 2009
Distribution: chumby website (http://www.chumby.jp/), with plans for retail distribution
Price: 29,400 yen (w/tax)
Visit http://www.chumby.jp/news/japanese_pickupwidget.html to see the 15 new Japanese widgets.
Product Features
With an LCD touchscreen and embedded squeeze and motion sensors, the chumby delivers a robust audio and entertainment experience to owners, including:
- Personalized wake-up experience—programmed wake-up to any of the thousands of audio sources, or any other content, on chumby
- Fun—games, humor, e-greetings, gossip, entertainment content
- Photo sharing through top photo-sharing sites such as Photobucket, Facebook, and flickr
- Music and podcasts—over twenty thousand free radio stations and podcasts from Mediafly, New York Times, and CBS
- Constant updates from top Internet sites
- Monitoring—eBay auction updates, on-going searches such as Craigslist, and status updates from Twitter and Facebook
Chumby can be plugged into any electrical outlet, so users have the flexibility of placing it on a nightstand, bathroom counter, office cubicle, coffee table, kitchen counter or out on a patio. It automatically finds an available Wi-Fi connection and streams personalized channels, which continuously deliver refreshed content such as music, news, stock quotes, games, movie previews, customized alarm clocks, and much more.
Chumby measures about 13 cm wide, 10 cm tall, and 8 cm deep. The soft Italian leather casing is available in black, latte, pearl, and blue.
chumby Specifications
OS |
Linux (2.6.16) |
CPU |
Freescale i.MX21(350Mhz) |
Memory |
SDRAM (64MB) |
Auxiliary memory |
Flash memory (64MB) |
Liquid-crystal Monitor |
3.5 inch TFT liquid crystal panel (LED backlight) |
Display Resolution |
320x240 dot |
Input System |
• Touch screen/ screen sensor |
Interface |
• 2W Stereo Speaker |
ABOUT CHUMBY
Chumby lets users select their favorite parts of the Internet and delivers them in a friendly, always-on, always-fresh format. Over 1,200 widgets in more than 30 categories, ranging from news and entertainment to videos, music, sports and more are available from high profile media partners such as CBS, MTV Networks, New York Times, The Weather Channel Interactive, and AOL's SHOUTcast. Chumby also offers user generated content as well as thousands of Internet radio stations, the ability to share photos, e-cards and more with family and friends. Chumby is headquartered in San Diego, CA, USA. In addition to the U.S. and Japan, chumbys are available for purchase to consumers in Australia and Europe.
Zyyx, Inc.
http://www.zyyx.jp/
Established: August 29, 1994
Capital Fund: 20 million yen
Business Description:
Website content, planning and designing of mobile phone content
Web system development
Development of high-resolution image delivery systems "ZYYX TV"
chumby selling contact: Nakadate, Nakamichi, Hiroki
(TEL) 03-5210-1617 (FAX) 03-5210-1620
E-mail: business@chumby.jp
Inquiries
Chumby Industries, Inc.
PR/Marketing: Yukihide Moriya
email: yukihidemoriya@chumby.com
(TEL) 03-5572-7041 (FAX) 03-5572-7631
chumby official Japanese website: http://www.chumby.jp/
Michael Coleman
chumby
619.573.1051
michael@chumby.com
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