Microvision Secures Global Consumer Electronics OEM To Private-Label Laser Pico Projector

That’s the heading of the Press Release from this morning.

Here’s the link…

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Microvision-Secures-Global-bw-3416063198.html?x=0&.v=1

Source: Microvision, Inc.
On 6:30 am EDT, Thursday October 8, 2009

REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Microvision, Inc. (NASDAQ:MVIS - News), a global leader in innovative ultra-miniature projection display and image-capture products for mobility applications, announced today that it has secured an initial purchase order for a global consumer electronics OEM to private-label its PicoP® display engine-based accessory laser pico projector. This purchase order is tied to a marketing and distribution agreement Microvision announced recently with an Asian distribution partner who also has purchased Microvision’s branded product, the SHOWWX™, for distribution within the Asia-Pacific region. (See Microvision press release, “Microvision Receives Purchase Order and Begins Shipping World’s First Laser Pico Projector, SHOWWX,” September 30, 2009.) The Asian distribution partner and global consumer electronics OEM are both planning their own marketing launch activities and will provide specific details regarding timing and locations for initial product availability in the near future. Microvision has begun shipping units to fulfill both customers.

“We are extremely pleased to receive our first purchase order to private label the PicoP based accessory laser pico projector,” said Alexander Tokman, President and CEO of Microvision. “Having a global consumer electronics player, which is targeting a new mobile communication device strategy, attach their name to our product strongly validates the performance and quality of our first laser projector offering. On the heels of announcing our first shipments of the SHOWWX laser pico projector, and receiving the purchase order from an international distributor, this is another significant milestone in our go-to-market strategy.”

Microvision’s SHOWWX Laser Pico Projector, uses the revolutionary PicoP display engine that delivers colorful, vivid, large images that create a truly “big screen” viewing experience from a device about the size of a mobile phone. The SHOWWX can project images from 12” to 150” inches across, depending on the ambient lightning conditions, without the user ever having to adjust focus. This pico projector is a simple plug-n-play device for people on-the-go who want to spontaneously view and share multimedia applications and programs such as mobile TV, movies, photos, user-generated content such as YouTube™, presentations and more with their friends, family or business associates. Users can seamlessly plug Microvision’s pocket-sized pico projector into their portable media players, mobile phones, notebooks and other portable mobile media devices with TV-Out or VGA functionality.

Continues…

*****

After three years of hard work, anxiously waiting for green lasers and sweating it each passing day, today’s announcement comes as a major milestone accomplished in the history of Microvision. The stakeholders in Microvision [investors, partners and consumers] can finally take comfort in today’s announcement as a milestone that…

“…validates the performance and quality of our first laser projector offering. On the heels of announcing our first shipments of the SHOWWX laser pico projector, and receiving the purchase order from an international distributor, this is another significant milestone in our go-to-market strategy.” ... Alex Tokman, CEO of Microvision.

It is interesting to read how Microvision management perceives the significance of today’s announcement themselves. Here’s what Matt Nichols, Microvision corporate spokesperson, said in his post at the company’s blog The Displayland…

“…we launched, we started initial shipments, we have the SHOWWX brand and now (tada!) an OEM private label brand accessory laser pico projector. This has been a fun few weeks.”

Yes, Matt we agree with you and hope you are enjoying your day [our day] in the sun for a change.

Here’s the link to Matt’s post at The Displayland…

http://www.microvision.com/displayground/

All is well and good; however, it is frustrating, again, to note that the Microvision management withheld the names of the two companies involved in releasing the initial purchase orders. So we grabbed our “trench coats” and went sleuthing to unravel the identity of the mysterious “global consumer electronics OEM” who also happens to be “ targeting a new mobile communication device strategy”.

Without further ado, here’s what we found… thinking loud of course…

“It is quite apparent that the 'global consumer electronics OEM' that is mentioned in today’s news is Sony or Sony Ericsson.”

Some may argue that it could be Motorola, Apple or LG from Korea.  However, when you read the statement made by Alex Tokaman, CEO of Microvision, you can only draw one conclusion. Before we present the conclusion, let me share with you first, what Mr. Tokman said in the press release…

“Having a global consumer electronics player, which is targeting a new mobile communication device strategy, attach their name to our product strongly validates the performance and quality of our first laser projector offering.”

Having said that, the only company that fits the bill, as a global consumer electronics player that is also targeting a new mobile communications device strategy... is SONY… or perhaps Sony Ericsson.  LG from Korea could be another possibility, but not likely considering how strongly Alex Tokman feels about Korean companies that are notorious for copy-cats and getting around patent infringement.

Here’s some more information in support of Sony or Sony Ericsson as the OEM from today’s news…

This is from a recent article that talks about Sony Ericsson ‘Unlimited Entertainment’ strategy built around a high-end feature phone…

“On Sunday evening in Barcelona on the eve of GSMA's Mobile World Congress, the mobile-phone maker, which is a joint venture between consumer electronics maker Sony and telecom-equipment maker Ericsson, unveiled a new strategy that it says fuses "communication and entertainment".

At the core of its new strategy is something Sony Ericsson calls 'Entertainment Unlimited'. Executives were thin on details at the press conference in Barcelona, but the company is planning a strategy that will bring together mobile phones with PCs and the TV to share entertainment content.”

“Given that the smartphone market is where all the action is expected to be over in the next couple of years, it is surprising that Sony Ericsson would choose high-end feature phones to anchor its new 'Unlimited Entertainment' strategy.

The details are still too scarce to know exactly how this will pan out. But Sony Ericsson needs a compelling and affordable smartphone that can take advantage of these entertainment and communication features. And to effectively compete in this market, it is going to need to expand its distribution beyond Europe and Japan. Namely, it needs to bring an affordable and desirable smartphone to North American consumers."

Here’s the link to the full story…
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/0,1000000085,39616107,00.htm

As I said before, over the years there have been several hints in the past press releases to a possible Sony – Microvision relationship of some sort.

Here’s another hint from the past…
http://seekingalpha.com/article/51145-microvision-s-seemingly-obvious-manufacturing-partner

Here’s some more tit bit of news in the media that will surely get Microvision investors excited, all over again, and wondering who could that be now?…

Laser based projector phones coming soon
10/08/2009

Digitimes reports that Asia Optical has begun small-volume shipments of pico-projector modules for handsets. These are based on Microvisions' Laser-Beam-Steering (LBS) technology. The modules cost around US 80$, and they expect it to drop to around 40$-50$ in 2011, and 35$ in 2012.

They expect to sell 5 million modules in 2011 and 10 million in 2012.

*****

Here’s the link…

http://www.picoprojector-info.com/laser-based-projector-phones-coming-soon

There will be lots of exciting times in Microvision’s future.

However today, Matt Nichols gets the top billing for the excitement category for his post at The Displayland…

“…we launched, we started initial shipments, we have the SHOWWX brand and now (tada!) an OEM private label brand accessory laser pico projector. This has been a fun few weeks.”

Anant Goel

http://www.wealthbyoptions.com/

Microvision: You Have Competition

I’m sure there will be many players in the Pico projection "standalone" space... 3M with LcoS and TI with DLP technologies.

However, no matter how you slice-it or dice-it, Microvision has, in my opinion, no competition in the laser based “embedded” Pico projection space... not TI… and certainly not 3M.

Microvision’s PicoP display engine could still lead the “standalone” rat pack because of the following:

• Small form factor that allows room to add additional built-in functionality. The competition starts-out big and can only get bigger.

• Power consumption will always be the differentiating factor. Two to three hours of use between battery charges is always more desirable than the ones that last an hour or less. Extra power pack(s) will make the Microvision's PicoP projector at par with competition... but there is a high probability that the user will opt for longer run on batteries. How often do you remember scrambling for a power pack when you need one?

• A wide angle view means that Microvision PicoP projector can show a wider screen at closer distance. This is a very important differentiation as compared to the “rest” in the market. With Microvision PicoP projector you get…

“A wider image [60 inch from 5 feet away, for example] from a close distance… the image is brighter and sharper… colors are more vibrant… and the image is always in focus”.

• Laser based Pico projectors will always have projected image in focus… regardless of the distance from the screen or mobility of the projector itself. Try focusing a projector every time you move [with the projector] or change the distance from the screen to change the size of the image.

• Microvision PicoP projector has better image quality and is sharper [per lumen] as compared to other projectors using “diffused” light sources the competition is using.  The use of diffused light source, like lamps or LED, causes the “torch effect”… where the image is brighter in the center with darker outside.

• Microvision’s PicoP projectors can go from 12inch to 150inch image size. None of the competitor has [so far] been able to match what Microvision is offering. We will soon find out what [else] Microvision has to “SHOW” at the CEATEC JAPAN 2009.

Microvision will be demonstrating several integrated product(s) at the CEATEC JAPAN and have signed-up a few major players to evaluate commercial PEKs, and has commercially launched the world’s first laser based PicoP projector SHOWwx on September 15th 2009. Competition, like 3M and TI, have their LED based Pico projectors on the market for over six months… but they are not selling too well… and their prices keep coming down almost every month.

However, it is just the begining of the 7-10 year Pico projector adoption cycle and the market is expected to take-off in 2010…
http://fixed-mobile-convergence.tmcnet.com/topics/mobile-communications/articles/54130-report-picoprojector-revenues-will-exceed-1-billion.htm

Competition is good and will help with faster adoption of the Pico projector by the billion plus unit market. To be a huge [financial] success, Microvision needs only a small percentage of the overall market that finally adopts the technology.

The first batch of many media reviews are starting to come-in from CEATEC JAPAN …

http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/06/video-microvisions-laser-based-show-wx-pico-projector-shines-a/

[Make sure to scroll down and watch the streaming video... it is just awesome!]
http://www.legitreviews.com/news/6600/

It is very interesting to see what the media from CEATEC JAPAN is saying…

Microvision's laser-based SHOW WX pico projector shines at CEATEC

“Microvision just struck a deal to start shipping its PicoP-based SHOW WX pico projector in Asia, and while the size may not blow any minds, the image quality just might. With a native 848 x 480 resolution (WVGA), this one pumps out more pixels than pretty much any other pico projector on the market today, and with enough darkness, it can actually spit out an image that's around 100-inches in size. We stopped by the company's booth here at CEATEC in order to have a look at what makes the world's first laser-based pico PJ so special, and we can honestly say the picture was pretty stunning (considering the device we're talking about). We got a lecture on just how amazing the innards actually are (hear for yourself after the break), but it's the estimated $500 price tag and 2010 US ship date that really had us intrigued.

The company also confessed that it's toiling away in an effort to miniaturize its PicoP engine even further, and while it wouldn't come right out and say it, we got the feeling that it was jonesing to get that very device into all sorts of other gizmos in the near future. In the meanwhile, you can expect the SHOW WX to ship with support for pretty much any input via a composite adapter, while an iPod / iPhone connector is apt to be bundled in as well. There's also a 3.5 millimeter audio passthrough, 10 lumens of brightness, a 60Hz refresh rate (trust us, the lines you see in the video aren't seen by the naked eye) and a built-in battery good for two hours on a charge. Oh, and this thing's ability to refocus instantly as you move it closer and farther from the wall is pretty swank -- just sayin'.”

There you have it!

My money is “still” on Microvision.  However, I am keeping an eye on the competition… including TI, 3M and Syndiant.  Microvision just raised the Pico bar for rest of the competition... some of them with billions in their war chest to fight another day.

However, today belongs to Microvision!

Anant Goel
http://www.wealthbyoptions.com/

Microvision: Exhibiting at the CEATEC JAPAN October 6 – 10

Here’s the news from this morning as posted on the Microvision blog site The Displayland…

“CEATAC JAPAN is a comprehensive IT and electronics trade show where world-leading technologies, products and services are announced. The exhibition draws about 800 companies and organizations, including 300 companies from 27 countries and regions outside of Japan, displaying their products and technologies in exhibition booths. In total, there are close to 200,000 visitors during the five days of the exhibition. During the exhibition Microvision will be showcasing a variety of PicoP display engine enabled products and prototypes, including: The SHOWWX laser pico projector, the PicoP Evaluation Kit and the PicoP vehicle head-up display (we refer to as PicoHUD). Our main focus at this show is to meet with prospects who are interested in designing the PicoP display engine into their next generation products. Additionally we’ll gather many leads from companies and individuals who are interested in the SHOWWX. Our Booth Number is: 2-8. This show is open to the public, but registration and a fee is required.”

Here’s the link to the post at The Displayland…

http://www.microvision.com/displayground/

Some more information about CEATEC JAPAN…

CEATEC is Japan's premiere electronics show featuring exhibits in information technology and electronics.

CEATEC stands for: Cutting Edge IT and Electronics Comprehensive Exhibition or, more simply put using the English first letters CEATEC Acronym: Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies.

CEATEC JAPAN was created in year 2000, by the integration of two exhibitions: Electronics Show and COM JAPAN. This year's CEATEC show is being held from October 6 - 10, 2009. This is where it all starts for products coming out of Asia. Most products on display at CEATEC sometimes take a while to make it to the US market. However, some products that make appearance at CEATEC may never reach US shores, but enjoy a healthy life in other parts of the World.

For details about what is in store at this year's show check out the official CEATEC website…

http://www.ceatec.com/2009/en/index.html

Over the years, since its formation in 2000, CEATEC JAPAN has garnered significant attention not only in Japan but also worldwide. It showcases a comprehensive range of leading-edge IT & electronics technologies using the theme of: "Digital Convergence — Defining the Shape of Our Future”.

And in celebration of the show’s 10th anniversary this year, the Organizing Committee of CEATEC JAPAN has created a message, "Challenge! Aiming to better people’s lives and create a low-carbon society", to broadly introduce the latest measures taken by the IT & electronics industry on the attention-grabbing topics of energy conservation and "green" activities.

Taking advantage of the grand scale offered at Makuhari Messe, CEATEC JAPAN 2009 will showcase a wide range of exhibit categories from electronic components and devices to digital home appliances, mobile phones, as well as an extensive variety of services and content. It is also the premier venue where valuable information is exchanged by a number of IT & electronics industry leaders, which helps to position CEATEC JAPAN as the leading-edge IT & electronics comprehensive exhibit — a one-of-a-kind event unprecedented in both scale and importance in Japan and around the world.

Anant Goel
http://www.wealthbyoptions.com/

Microvision Announces Commercial Launch of SHOWWX Laser Pico Projector

That’s the heading of the Press Release from this morning.

Here’s the link…

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20091004005084&newsLang=en

The content of this PR is the same as the one released on September 15th… except for the following…

• Today’s PR is from…

CEATEC JAPAN 2009
Booth #2-8

• The following statement is added to the bottom of the PR…

"The company will showcase its latest products and solutions at CEATEC JAPAN 2009, Makuhari Messe, Chiba, Japan, October 6-10, 2009. (Booth Number: 2-8)"

• The contact information is different…

Microvision, Inc.
Matt Nichols, 425.882.6657 (USA)
Director of Communications
or
Shigeru Shinzawa, +81-3-6717-4290 (Japan)
sshinzawa@microvision.com

The purpose of today’s PR, in my opinion, is to create the buzz, for free, before the commencement of the CEATEC JAPAN 2009 show.

Obviously, there is the possibility of several key announcements and that a few commercial SHOWwx will be on demo… the same commercial units that the Asian consumers can expect to buy.

I have reasons to believe that there [may] be several demos’ of embedded PicoP display engines… in mobile devices like laptops and DVD players.

Anant Goel
http://www.wealthbyoptions.com/