Wednesday, November 26, 2014

iPod Touch 6g before year end? -- UPDATED

Still most of the rumoring articles about the iPod 6G speak of a March release. If I needed to place bets, I'd be expecting a March release, just based on the amount of suspicion that it's the time. (And when most of the rumor mill gets onboard for an Apple rumor, the accuracy increases dramatically.)

This morning (December 1) I found this article. What is interesting about it to me is that's it's hyping the release -- without giving any detail at all. I suspect someone knows that something new and different is included. (If you've been following this blog at all, you know that one of my pet theories is an AppleTV / iPod / PicoP hybrid device.)

Make of it what you will.

http://motoringcrunch.com/news/ipod-touch-6g-you-may-want-to-wait-for-it/1005200/


iPod Touch 6G: You May Want To Wait For It

"The iPod Touch might not be as popular as the iPhones and iPads but pretty soon from now, everybody would want to own the device. This is after more rumours on the iPod Touch 6G came out to suggest that the device is going to be amazing." 

--- Which is not the kind of reporting you do, if it's just an iPhone 6 without the phone part.



StableyTimes

"...But the most compelling evidence points to the fact that if Apple were to introduce and manufacture a new iPod touch 6th generation model based on the same design and components as the iPhone 6, it would harm production of the new iPhone at a time when keeping up with demand is crucial for long term iOS market growth. That means the minute the light appears at the end of the tunnel an iPhone supply has caught up to demand, Apple can safely put the iPod touch 6 into production and launch it days or weeks later. Therefore our conclusion is that there is still a strong possibility that the new iPod touch will see its release date before 2014 is over, even though the timing could force some would-be customers to turn into last minute shoppers."

Sony "sensor" sales

Last February, just before the announcement that Sony was working with Microvision, Sony made an announcement that it may double the number of "sensors" it sells to Apple. Sony makes image sensors - cameras. If they were going to double the number of cameras (or image sensors) they sell to Apple, why wouldn't they use the more specific term?

Sony-Apple-Microvision Timeline

and now it makes a laser projector -- 

"The devices division --- which houses the image sensor business.... "  -- this is clearly saying that the increase in business isn't going to come from image sensors, but from something else. If they were going to make it all from cameras - or image sensors, they would have made that clear.




(Reuters) - Japan's loss-making Sony Corp plans to slash its TV and mobile phone product line-ups to cut costs, counting on multi-billion dollar revenue surges for its buoyant PlayStation 4 and image sensor businesses over the next three years.

Having lost ground to nimbler rivals like Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd in consumer electronics, Sony said on Tuesday its goal for TV and smartphones is to turn a profit, even if sales slide as much as 30 percent.

"We're not aiming for size or market share but better profits," Hiroki Totoki, Sony's newly appointed chief of its mobile division told an investors' conference. A poor showing by its Xperia smartphones has weighed heavily on recent earnings and Sony said more detail on plans for the unit will be unveiled before end-March.
With cost cuts on the way in some divisions, Sony is also not planning to renew its FIFA soccer sponsorship contract next year, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. 

Under its new three-year electronics business plan, Sony said it was aiming to boost sales for its videogame division by a quarter to as much as 1.6 trillion yen ($13.6 billion). It said that will be helped by personalized TV, video and music distribution services that should lift revenue per paying user.

At its devices division, which houses its image sensor business, Sony said sales could increase 70 percent to as much as 1.5 trillion yen. Sony's sensor sales are already robust, with Apple using them in its iPhones while Chinese handset manufacturers are increasingly adopting them. 
(How much of the $10,500,000,000 increase in sales will Microvision be?)

In a similar event last week for its entertainment units, the conglomerate said it was aiming to lift its movie and TV programming revenues by a third over the next three years. 

Shares in Sony finished 6 percent higher on hopes that the new measures show a greater sense of restructuring urgency, while the Nikkei 225 index rose 0.3 percent.

"There's a lot of expectation for Sony now, but nothing is sure until there are results," said Ichiyoshi Asset Management chief fund manager Akino Mitsushige. "Getting out of the mobile market is an option, but they can't do that now, so they will need to make some fundamental changes."


(Additional reporting by Edwina Gibbs and Teppei Kasai; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Sony IR Electronics Presentation

There is good stuff for Microvision in there if you listen closely!

Listen here: http://www.irwebcasting.com/20141125/10/bddd76d1db/mov/main/index.html

From about 53:00 - 55:40. This is an answer from one of the Sony execs. Translated.. it's difficult to listen to.

An executive from Sony doesn't say TV's form factor "might" change, unless he knows it's going to change. The Japanese avoid specific direct language -- this is about the same as slapping you in the face and saying "everything is about to change."



54:20
"and the display is becoming bigger, and most of the homes do not have sufficient place to set the large screen TVs, but the TV's shape and dimensions might change because of the technological development. So, in the future TV forms might be different from the conventional form and it will provide ease of use to customers and all sorts of programs can be shown. and the difference between displays and TV, large display is called "signage" what we aim at, is TV incorporates entertainment, it's not just looking at information.  On TV you can enjoy content -- being immersed. So I hope you will have high  expectations of new TVs we would like to launch. Sony visual products we did not use name TV as part of the company name  because we would like to address that sort of challenge of creating new TVs." 




Sunday, November 23, 2014

iPod Touch 6th Generation

My speculation has been for some time that SONY and Apple would be cooperating, and that the ideal device for them would be an AppleTV / iPod / PicoP combo (or they'll come up with something really unique!).... so this kind of rumoring is something I find interesting. 

Rumors are rumors, however. We can't count on them being accurate. They're worth noticing but ignoring until there are a lot of them.  When there are a lot of agreeing rumors, the accuracy of the rumors seems to improve considerably. 

Latino Post

Stabley Times reported that the new iPod touch is long overdue -- it should have arrived in September along with the new iPhones, if the Cupertino giant's traditional patterns were followed. The outlet believed the delay has something to do with size. Allegedly, the performance of larger iPhones determines the company's move in deciding how large the next iPod touch will be.

Top speculators have been eyeing a March 2015 release for the iPod touch 6, said Air Herald. The source mentioned that the device has been used only to tease consumers back in October!

Yet Customs Today noted that Apple has only been dealing with technical issues. The outlet said the device hits shelves "soon," and we can only hope that it isn't too late. Could a Christmas release be possible?

After all, BREATHEcast said the iPod touch 6 may arrive before 2015. Such speculation is expected if Apple announces the device prior to Thanksgiving. Take note: "before 2015" means anytime between this writing and exploding firecrackers. It's just, soon!

From our current information, it appears that discrepancy in speculations comes in terms of the device's processor. Let it be known (again) that the iPod touch is not an iPhone -- the device functions more of a portable media companion, although it shares some similarities in terms of OS functionality.

BreathCast

StableyTimes

Air Herald
 Now the top speculators say the device will come out in March of 2015 instead. Cupertino, the company behind a good part of its development is said to be working on making sure the bugs are worked out.
No real specs have come out about the device but the rumor mill is quite abuzz. Stories of a 4 inch Retina Display along with the rear mounted iSight Camera and that the device will have a dual core A5 processor. It might also have larger storage, a radio app, Apple Pay.
Whatever the final specs are, the iPod Touch 6 is sure to be loaded for bear but be affordable and less complex than the iPhone 6. 
Overall, Apple has to deliver on this device. Not just ride off the Apple name, but to be a device that stands on its own. The features and apps and such have to be top notch as well as easy to operate and as bug free as possible. There’ slots of time for Apple to fine tune this device before release and it’s a good bet they’ll be analyzing ever bit of fan data they can. They know that fans want certain options and features and if the iPad doesn’t have them, Apple will do whatever they can to include them. 


"The iPod Touch 6th Generation release date is still pretty tricky because of the fact that it's already veered off from what was suspected to be its launch schedule, but there's still some reasons why you should expect it in the fall. "

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

New Patent MVIS with NASA

Note that this patent was Filed in 2012.... it was published today. The NASA reference is interesting. There is a lot going on behind the scenes at this company -- that will eventually reach us in the public.

At US Patent Office

Scanned image projection system employing intermediate image plane 

Abstract
In imaging system (100), a spatial light modulator (101) is configured to produce images (102) by scanning a plurality light beams (104,105,106). A first optical element (107) is configured to cause the plurality of light beams to converge along an optical path (114) defined between the first optical element and the spatial light modulator. A second optical element (115) is disposed between the spatial light modulator and a waveguide (1401). The first optical element and the spatial light modulator are arranged such that an image plane (117) is created between the spatial light modulator and the second optical element. The second optical element is configured to collect the diverging light (118) from the image plane and collimate it. The second optical element then delivers the collimated light to a pupil (120) at an input of the waveguide.

Inventors:DeJong; Christian Dean (Sammamish, WA), Hudman; Joshua M. (Issaquah, WA) 
Applicant: 
NameCityStateCountryType

DeJong; Christian Dean
Hudman; Joshua M.

Sammamish
Issaquah 

WA
WA 

US
US 
Assignee:Microvision, Inc. (Redmond, WA) 
Family ID:1000000720089
Appl. No.:13/466,798
Filed:May 8, 2012

Government Interests



STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 

This invention was made with government support under Contract Number NNX11CG59P awarded by NASA. The government has certain rights in the invention.

iPhone 7 rumors from IBTimes

This is one of those "take it for what it's worth" posts.

It is a reasonable seeming source, I don't know where they got the information for this. After looking at a lot of the rest of the site, most of what they post seems very legit.

I'm not advocating believing this, or disbelieving it, but it's there, and I've clipped the pertinent paragraphs for you.

http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/572967/20141117/apple-iphone-7-6-plus-samsung-galaxy.htm#.VGuKgL64l69


"Rumours or no rumours, it is inevitable that newer versions will follow the popular iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, respectively. It wouldn't hurt if the public will take a glimpse on speculations about the iPhone 7 based on iPhone7update.com report and check what to expect from it."
Projector
Apparently, the iPhone 7 will follow the lead of Samsung's Galaxy Beam which features a built-in projector that provides larger viewing experience from the convenience of user's phone. But Apple will definitely come up with something that could outwit Samsung's prior innovation, something that will entice the business people to give in to their product.

Key paragraph from the named source:iPhone7update.com


Projector:

"According to the rumors, iPhone 7 is expected to have an in-built projector. This is not going to be the only phone to flaunt this feature as Samsung Galaxy Beam has a built-in projector that enables larger viewing experience via phone. But as we all know, Samsung follows in the footsteps on Apple and it has never been the other way around. Maybe, Apple would teach Samsung a lesson or two on how to incorporate a new technology! If this rumor comes true, most of users who work at corporate houses and use projectors for PowerPoint presentation would rush to buy it."

Friday, November 14, 2014

SONY & Seismic Changes for Pay TV - UPDATED

From SONY


SAN MATEO, Calif.Nov. 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Sony Network Entertainment International LLC 
(SNEI) and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCE) today unveiled PlayStation™Vue, a pioneering new cloud-based TV service that reinvents the television experience.
"Everyday TV is about to become extraordinary with our new cloud-based TV service, PlayStation™Vue," said Andrew House, President and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. and Group Executive in charge of the Network Entertainment Business. "PlayStation™Vue reinvents the traditional viewing experience so your programming effortlessly finds you, enabling you to watch much more of what you want and search a lot less. PlayStation™Vue brings the best of live TV and a robust catalog of the latest content, always keeping you connected to what's popular, new and trending. Today's announcement builds on the historic success of PlayStation®4 and demonstrates what our company is capable of when we embrace disruption and stay true to gamers."
Removing Barriers between Viewers and Content
PlayStation™Vue leverages the power of the cloud to combine the live, on-demand, and catch-up TV content viewers love with a powerful user interface that delivers unprecedented personalization and simplicity.
  • PlayStation™Vue immediately connects viewers to the content they want to watch, helps them easily access their favorite shows and channels, and recommends movies and shows based on their viewing habits and what's trending.
  • Discovering content is both simple and powerful with PlayStation™Vue. The smart "Search" feature narrows down results quickly and intuitively, and the powerful "Explore" function allows viewers to filter the entire catalog of live and on-demand content by type of program, genre, ratings, popularity, length and more.
  • PlayStation™Vue delivers catch-up and on-demand TV, freeing viewers to watch TV on their own schedules. The service makes the past three days of popular programming available without the need to schedule recordings.
  • Viewers can save their favorite shows to the cloud without storage restrictions or scheduling conflicts. Once viewers tag a favorite show, they will automatically have access to episodes of that show for 28 days so that they can watch on their own time.  
  • PlayStation™Vue is simple to navigate and intuitive to use. By leveraging the power of the PlayStation® platform and controller, viewers are always one click away from quick access to watching, finding, and discovering content.
The Best Content on TV
During the invite-only beta, PlayStation™Vue will initially offer around 75 channels per market from the following major programmers, including local broadcast stations, so that viewers can enjoy their favorite movies, TV shows, and sports programs.
The following is a list of our current network partners, with additional partners to be announced in the future:
  • CBS – At launch, PlayStation®Vue will offer the live linear signal from CBS Television Network's owned-and-operated TV stations in select leading markets in addition to on-demand prime-time programming.
  • Discovery Communications – Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Investigation Discovery, Science, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, Discovery Family Channel and 11 more brands.
  • Fox – Fox Networks Group's portfolio of national entertainment programming services, including - FX, FXX, FXM, National Geographic Channel and Nat Geo WILD. Additionally FOX Sports' national and regional programming services - FOX Sports 1, FOX Sports 2, BTN, Fox's regional sports networks, including YES Network and Prime Ticket. The agreement also covers Fox's owned and operated television stations. 
  • NBCUniversal – All local offerings from NBC, Telemundo and regional sports networks as well as Bravo, CNBC, E!, NBCSN, Oxygen, Sprout, Syfy, USA Network and more.
  • Scripps Networks Interactive – HGTV, Food Network, Travel Channel, DIY Network and Cooking Channel.
  • Viacom – BET, CMT, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, PALLADIA, Spike, VH1 and more.
Transparent Pricing with No Commitments
Pricing and packaging details will be revealed at commercial launch but PlayStation™Vue is changing the rules for how people pay for subscription TV.
  • What you see is what you pay – fair and competitive price that is transparent with no hidden fees or charges.
  • No contracts – maximum flexibility as PlayStation™Vue will be offered on a month-to-month basis without any penalty or customer service hassles for cancellation.
  • No equipment or installation charges – with broadband internet service and a PlayStation®4 system or PlayStation®3 system, there's no need to install or rent any additional equipment.
Availability
PlayStation™Vue will begin an invite only beta preview during November for select PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®3 owners, with a phased rollout starting in New York followed later by ChicagoPhiladelphia, and Los Angeles. The service will also become available on iPad® shortly thereafter, and later on more Sony and non-Sony devices.
PlayStation™Vue will launch commercially during the first quarter of 2015.




At Seeking Alpha

The complete article is available at Seeking Alpha

  • Programming on the Sony streaming service will feature shows from CBS, Discovery Communications, Fox, NBC, Scripps Networks, and Viacom.
  • The pitch from the Japanese media giant is that cord-cutters will be drawn in by the captivating way of accessing the content through gaming consoles. A cutting-edge discovery and recommendations service for users is also highlighted by execs.

SONY IR days 2014

I'll be watching these live, if possible. 

http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/info/entertainment_141118.html

Sony IR Day 2014 - Entertainment

Date:  November 18, 2014 [Tue]  10:00 (JST)
Place:  Tokyo (Japan)  
Presenters:
IR Day Opening Speech
Kazuo Hirai
President and CEO,
Representative Corporate Executive Officer
Entertainment Businesses (Pictures, Music)
Michael Lynton
CEO, Sony Entertainment
Chairman & CEO, Sony Pictures Entertainment

http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/info/electronics_141125.html

Sony IR Day 2014 - Electronics

Date:  November 25, 2014 [Tue]  10:00 (JST)
Place:  Tokyo (Japan)  

Presenters:
  • Message from the CFO:
    Kenichiro Yoshida
    EVP and CFO, Representative Corporate Executive Officer
  • Game & Network Services Segment
    Andrew House
    President and Group CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. / 
    Group Executive, Network Entertainment Business
  • Mobile Communications Segment
    Hiroki Totoki
    President & CEO, Sony Mobile Communications Inc.
    Group Executive
  • Imaging Products & Solutions Segment
    Shoji Nemoto
    EVP, Corporate Executive Officer / 
    President of Imaging Products and Solutions Sector, 
    President of Professional Solutions Group
    Shigeki Ishizuka
    SVP, Corporate Executive / President of Digital Imaging Business Group
  • Home Entertainment & Sound Segment
    Masashi Imamura
    Representative Director and President, Sony Visual Products Inc.
    Ichiro Takagi
    SVP, Corporate Executive / President of Video and Sound Business Group
  • Devices Segment
    Tomoyuki Suzuki
    EVP, Corporate Executive Officer / President of Device Solutions Business

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Playstation Vue Service

http://fansided.com/2014/11/13/sony-unveils-playstation-vue-cloud-based-tv-service/

This is another indication of the significant advances made in mobile video.

Sony unveiled its latest cloud-based application, Playstation Vue, which will offer on-demand and live television streaming from several networks.

Sony has unveiled another cloud-based service, Playstation Vue, which will let users stream both on-demand and live television to their Playstation 3 or Playstation 4 without a cable or satellite television subscription. Sony intends to eventually bring the service to other devices, such as the iPad, and will be offered on a month-to-month subscription basis with no contract or termination fees.
......................
Sony said the past three days of “popular programming” (whatever that means to them) will be available to stream without having to set up any recording, and networks such as CBS, NBCUniversial and FOX are on board already.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

State of Michigan -- RETAINS MVIS SHARES


Some major screwup made it seem as though the State of Michigan sold nearly all of their stock. 

This did NOT happen.

State Treasurer of Michigan Portfolio 


SOME SIGNIFICANT DOUBT IS CAST ON THIS REPORT 
-- it is possible the state of Michigan retained ALL of its Microvision holdings --- and all of everything else. --- when I am SURE that it is an error, I will change this post.

Normally I like to focus strictly on the technology and its prospects & what the company is doing.

However, this rather significant event happened.

Taken out of context it seems to be very bad news. 


Taken in context, it's not really news.

The State of Michigan sold nearly its entire holdings of Microvision.


They reduced their holdings in many companies:

Apple.......................................90.19%
Goldman Sachs.......................76%
Walmart...................................92.31%
Visa.........................................75.34%

They increased their holdings in Berkshire Hathaway by 20,589%  -- they are essentially outsourcing their money management to Berkshire. In a 6.7 Billion dollar fund, they sold most of everything, and purchased 5.2 billion in Berkshire.

Losing a large investor isn't good for the stock price (or the people who were holding) but it isn't a statement about Microvision. 

In fact, we can be pretty pleased that the State of Michigan had someone attend the Microvision conference call last week.

Peter Jungmann

Friday, November 7, 2014

Xiaomi Smartphone Share Triples.

Xaiomi phone share triples

Xiaomi’s China Smartphone Share Triples as Apple Declines
  Nov 7, 2014 1:29 AM PT

Xiaomi Corp. led China smartphone shipments in the third quarter as local brands including Vivo ate into the share of global market leaders Samsung Electronics Co. and Apple Inc. (AAPL), researcher Canalys said. 
Xiaomi more than tripled its share of the world’s largest smartphone market to 16 percent in the three months ended September from 5 percent a year earlier, Canalys said in an e-mail today. Samsung fell to second place from first as its market share dropped to 14 percent from 21 percent, the researcher said. 
Lenovo Group Ltd. (992) maintained its 13 percent share of the China market, yet still slipped to third place from second a year earlier. The country’s smartphone market is coming to the end of a period of “hypergrowth” that saw shipments double in the past two years, Lenovo Chief Executive Officer Yang Yuanqing said in an interview yesterday. 
“China market competition is very fierce,” Yang said by phone yesterday. “It’s the most fiercely competitive smartphone market in the world.” 
The fourth place was a tie as two more Chinese vendors, Huawei Technologies Co. and Coolpad Group Ltd., each captured 9 percent, Canalys said. In sixth place was the Vivo brand of BBK Communication Technology Co., which tripled share to 6 percent from 2 percent a year earlier, when it was ranked 11th, according to the researcher. 
Apple fell to seventh place from fifth as its market share dropped to 5 percent, compared with 6 percent a year earlier, Canalys said. While new iPhones made their global debut on Sept. 19, they didn’t officially go on sale in China until Oct. 17, after the quarter ended. 
Xiaomi’s surging sales at home lifted it to third place globally in the quarter ended September, trailing only Samsung (005930) and Apple, researcher International Data Corp. reported Oct. 29. 
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Edmond Lococo in Beijing at elococo@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael Tighe at mtighe4@bloomberg.netSubramaniam Sharma, Robert Fenner
(I scraped this content because often, in my experience, this kind of link disappears.)

Thursday, November 6, 2014

The Mobile Video Environment

PicoP would thrive in the current mobile environment. There are plenty of people viewing video and sharing pictures with mobile devices already. 

The Environment is not only going to improve for PicoP... it's going to improve VASTLY

At Fiercewireless.com

STOCKHOLM--Ericsson's (NASDAQ: ERIC) top executives painted a picture of the world in 2020 in which there will be 9 billion people on the planet, 9.1 billion mobile subscriptions and video traffic will dominate, accounting for at least 50 percent of all traffic on the network.

Speaking today at the Ericsson Business and Innovation Forum here, Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg talked about how he believes the world is in the midst of a major technology revolution and that one of the challenges he faces is how to position his company so it will be relevant today as well as in the next 25 years.

"We are at an inflection point between the first phase and the second phase" of this revolution, he said, adding that the winners in the first phase are not necessarily winners in the second phase. "But we will transform and be relevant in both phases."

One way he is helping to position Ericsson and the telecom industry for the future is by making sure that organizations such as the United Nations understand the role Information, Communications and Technology, or ICT, will play in moving many different types of industries, such as healthcare, transportation and more.

Vestberg also talked about the importance of research and development in this time of transformation. That's why Ericsson has committed to investing $5 billion in R&D. Some of that is going toward the development of "5G" networks. 

Sara Mazur, vice president and head of Ericsson Research, noted that in July of this year Ericsson conducted a test in its lab and was able to reach speeds of 5-gigabits per second. The company is working with several partners to delve further into 5G technology and help develop a standard--and she emphasized the need for one 5G standard in order to avoid fragmentation and leave some without access to 5G.

Interestingly, Vestberg also showed a correlation between broadband penetration and a country's gross domestic product. Specifically, he said that doubling the broadband speeds can result in a 0.3 percent growth in GDP.

Mobile broadband traffic continues to escalate on the network and there appears to be no end in sight. According to Ericsson CTO Ulf Ewaldsson, mobile broadband traffic is expected to grow 10-fold by 2020 from 2 petabytes today to 20 exabytes in 2020. Because of this growth, Ewaldsson emphasized the need for more spectrum and more efficient use of existing. "Spectrum will become more valuable than oil," Ewaldsson predicted.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Conference Call Highlights

There was a great deal of good news in the conference call today. 

While there was an absence of specific product announcements, there's plenty there to let us know that it will be soon, and some good hints about what at least one of the products will be.

I have taken the liberty of adjusting the words for flow (If anyone thinks I've inadvertently changed the meaning, please comment and I will adjust it as required.)



Conference call highlights.


Annual goal progress:

  • First, we announced in September that we completed the display module development phase with our partner. 
  • Second, we began supporting them with the display module commercialization efforts in the third quarter under the $1.5 million support agreement that we announced in October. 
  • And finally, we received purchase orders in September for MicroVision-specific components totaling approximately $1.9 million. And in fact, we commenced shipments of these components this quarter.    .....The multiyear commercial agreement negotiations are in progress and we are targeting completion later this year.
Multiyear commercial agreement negotiations?! -- this should be good news for stockholders!!

******
OEMS and Retailers interested in Multiple PicoP Products


Now what about additional opportunities? As we stated in our past quarterly calls, our business development efforts are focused on 4 main go-to-market coalitions that involve all the necessary stakeholders to enable a new market. In our case, this coalition includes display engine manufacturers, consumer-electronic OEMs and major retailers.
In Q3, we made significant strides on several go-to market paths in this area involving OEMs and major retailers that are interested in a variety of consumer electronic products that use PicoP display technology.

*******
Orders Shipping

In the third quarter, we began qualification cycle of production processes of MicroVision-specific components and our engineering quality and operations teams have been focused on production readiness activities to establish the baseline production capabilities. These activities are continuing in the fourth quarter as we ship and fulfill in customer orders.
*******
Multiple supply chains
These products will be built by OEMs, who make private label, or brand these products for retailers. Then the engine will come from one of our partners to go inside these products. Right now, we have multiple paths in works and they're at different stages........
The most important part from our side is to be ready with our MicroVision-specific component and enable the engine manufacturers, one of them who you already know and we announced, to be ready to provide their solutions to the product guys so they can basically start populating the retail channels.
Stable cash burn -- even during ramp up.  
This is excellent news! one of the worries of company followers is that the company might have to raise money to increase production. This appears to indicate that this will NOT be necessary.
Q: (Uerkwitz).... should we expect OpEx to stay about where it's at or will we start to see that ramp up a little bit?

A...(Holt) 
The operating expenses are in a place where we expect to be able to ramp the business for a while with them. We're using contract manufacturers so as things ramp up, the investments that we have to make are not that large.
Contract in place with FG100 customer 
Smaller scale because we are contributing less -- this does NOT mean that it is a small deal and that it will not lead to significant licensing and royalty revenue.
Q (Fitzgerald) ... is there a contract in place for that opportunity?

A (Tokman) .. That's correct. We have agreement in place. It's a smaller scale agreement than what we've done with Fortune Global 100 customer because we are contributing less.
Market Launch with Global 100 this year?
Q: (Fitzgerald) Do you see -- foresee a market launch this year with that customer? (F100 company)
A: these are our partners, we are restricted from what we can say. But our goal, remember, was to be ready with our components to be shipped to them in the fourth quarter and we are on track. And hopefully, more communication will come out. But at this point, we cannot comment on their product introduction time lines.
A number of Products
Q: (Szulist)...are we talking about how many different products, potentially, will have retail debuts in 2015?
A: (Tokman) ...we believe it's going to be a number of products.   ..... We're going to be ready with what we need to provide to everybody to be successful.  ...we collected and commissioned some direct consumer data that we, in fact, we have been using with them to educate them how to more effectively sell these products in these markets.
Rapid Ramp up not a problem
Q: (Szulist) ...Let's say you got a $5 million order, can you reach that? And how long will it take you?

A: (Tokman) ... 
if somebody comes into us and says, "Look, can you get to $5 million per year rate?" We would give them a date and say, "Look, we can get to this rate by this date to this rate, but yes, we can eventually get to $5 million. No problem."
No Bottlnecks
Q: (Szulist) ...So you really don't have any bottlenecks and you're very scalable in your current business model?

A: (Tokman) ...
We don't see it at this point in time. You can never be absolutely sure. But at this point in time, we feel comfortable about setting up baseline to enable the initial launches and also ramping this capacity to enable higher volumes.
Questioner apparently worried about meeting demand
What I read from this is that the questioner has seen the product, anticipates significant demand and is concerned about any impediments to production. I'm worried (and pretty excited about ) crazy demand for this product once it hits the public as well. I've also seen it, and I know. 
(Szulist) "my only view is that I'm concerned that if we are successful with what we've been waiting for throughout these years is that we don't have any kind of bottlenecks that'll just let us flow because I've seen the products so I know." 
Green Lasers Not a problem

(Tokman)  If we had green laser situation in 2010 than we have today, we would all be smiling. Everyone would be smiling right now.... we're feeling pretty good about the green laser situation.
Environment for PicoP excellent
... A long very upbeat discussion about it -- too long to copy, check Seeking Alpha Here

(Tokman) Basically, just all you need to know is that there is a list of automotive and consumer companies we are working on. They're all recognizable names
.... there is more. All the questioners were very upbeat. The tone of the whole call was positive. Progress isn't as fast as any of us would like, but it's steady, and it appears we're getting very close to product announcements.


Sunday, November 2, 2014

Endless uses for PicoP

One of the reasons I like this company, and follow it so enthusiastically, is that I know, over the long term, there are going to be many uses of it that haven't occurred to anyone yet. Below are a couple of samples of this.

If you dig down to find the prime premise of Microvision -- they make it easy to deliver light and imagery, conveniently and in a small portable package. Where can you use light and imagery?


@Tech Hub




We found this application before, but it's getting new attention: Here's a link from last year -- at patent from a company called "Accuvein" that mentions Microvision in this application: Accuvein Patent

Accuvein Website

... And making us look better.

@wearable technologies

“Given the rate of miniaturization of the picoprojector technology and observing the trend of wearables treated more as jewelry and fashion accessories rather than just gadgets, we predict that wearable projection and projection-based jewelry become a reality in a few years,” the team wrote.





Interesting Use Case for Picoprojection, note they are using Microvision's ShowWX


Thanks Allesandro!