Phantom Lapboard

The Phantom Lapboard is a wireless keyboard by the controversial company Phantom Entertainment. It was released on June 23, 2008 two years after its originally planned release date. Originally designed as a component of the The Phantom, it is currently being marketed as an individual purchase for use with PC video games while the console has been cancelled. [http://www.gamespot.com/news/6155882.html Phantom transmogrifies - News at GameSpot ] ]

Pricing

On August 15, 2006, it was announced that the price for the Lapboard would be $129.99 and customers who preorder get 30 dollars off immediately. [http://phantom.net/content/customerCare/index.html]

Features

The keyboard includes a mouse, and is designed to be held on the player's lap instead of a desk or table.A platform underneath the raised keyboard serves as a mousepad. It can be rotated for use by both left- and right-handed people.

It has a proposed wireless range of 30 feet.cite news|first=Brendan|last=Sinclair|url=http://www.gamespot.com/news/6141718.html |title=Phantom Lapboard coming to PCs|publisher=GameSpot|date=2006-01-03|accessdate=2006-05-17]

Marketing and release date

On January 3, 2006, Infinium Labs announced that the Phantom Lapboard is due to be released onto online retailers by the second quarter of 2006. On April 19, 2006, Infinium Labs announced that the keyboard would not be released in time for Q2 2006, but that the device, manufactured by Itron Technology, would be released in North America and Europe "no later than October" of 2006. [cite news|first=James|last=Orry|url=http://www.pro-g.co.uk/news/20-04-2006-2612.html|title=Phantom Lapboard delayed|publisher=Pro-G|date=2006-05-18|accessdate=2006-05-18] The release date for the "Lapboard" was then delayed until November 2006. The company began accepting pre-orders for its Lapboard on its website on August 2006, and then announced on November 9th 2006 that the Lapboard had been delayed until January 2007 for those who had made pre-orders and March 2007 for general release. [ [http://uk.gizmodo.com/2006/11/09/supplies_phantom_lapboard_dela.html Gizmodo UK : Supplies! Phantom Lapboard Delayed 'Til 2007 ] ] [ [http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/true-infinium-stories-the-73-million-phantom.ars True Infinium stories: the $73 million (and counting) Phantom disaster: Page 1 ] ]

In April 2008, MaximumPC (a PC gaming website) published a hands-on with the lapboard, describing it as "extremely promising" although the supplied mouse "experienced signal dropouts at a distance of about 24 inches from the sensor". They were able to use their own wireless mice with more success. The preview states that the peripheral will be available in "June for $130 in limited quantities". [http://www.maximumpc.com/article/first_look_the_phantom_lapboard]

On June 23, 2008, the Phantom Lapboard became available for sale on their official website.

References

External links

* [http://lapboard.net Infinium Labs Official Website]
* [http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/phantom-lapboard// Gizmodo.com]