This is a fun story: Waking up scanning my RSS feeds I see Engadget (Links to story on Book of Joe) running a story about the iZ Zizzle mystery toy that is supposed to not be revealed yet.

As we reported iLounge runs a promotional give-away where they make a big deal out of releasing new photos of the iZ toy during the competition showing only glimpses of the weird looking iZ. Participants in the give-away should send an email and tell what the iZ Zizzle toy is. The competition is still going until August 19th. Well, just read USAToday or the Chicago Tribune and you know - One to many PR guys at work? Or Zizzle just figured a story in USAToday gets just tons more eyeballs than they get from iLounge. Oh, and a quick search on Amazon also reveals nice photos (see a larger one below) of the iZ. Apparently the Zizzle toy will be available in three colors: Blue, Red and Green. Amazon.com offers the iZ for pre-order at $39.99. It will ship September 29th.

Anyway, the Chicago Tribune has figured out the same I already wrote in the first story about the iZ iPod toy. It is the same concept as the Sega iDog. Just as you can see in the photo (from Amazon.com) the looks of iZ are hard to grasp. It is some kind of colored alien. The Sega iDog is just plain cute. The iDog will be on sale in the US this month from Tiger Electronics, beating the iZ from Zizzle by 1 month to the market.
The iZ Zizzle will get major distribution through the big retailers like Wal-mart, Target and Toys R Us.
Behind the Zizzle Toy company is Roger Shiffman, who is also the man behind the mega-selling original Furby. He sold Tiger Electronics in 1998 to Hasbro, and now is back with a new toy that is supposed to be a big hit for this Christmas season.

The iZ is targeted on the Tweens market (10-12 year olds). Besides acting as an iPod speaker, the toy has several tracks of rhythms and melodies that can be altered and mixed together by turning the big belly knob or the ears of iZ.
The iZ will sell for about $40.