Disruptive Product - Disruptive Business Model

I found this article particularly interesting. 

MicroVision's PicoP has a significant advantage over other disruptive products, because the Disruptive business model has already been created. MicroVision working with Sony and other licensees are producing the product that will capitalize on the disruption in media consumption.

More and more media is being consumed on mobile devices, through WiFi Internet connections, Mobile networks, and through SONY with a miniature TV tuner.

Mobile access and bandwidth providers are also gearing up to provide content; for example SONY (sonyLiv, Crackle ), Verizon, (Verizon-AOL), and ATT, (ATT-DirecTV, SlingTV ). This new Sky Video Service targeted at Children's Programming

We may well catch the same kind of break when it comes to Augmented Reality products. Of being in precisely the right place at the right time.

[ a few years ago, when things went badly for MicroVision due to a lack of green lasers - we would have been in the same place as the company mentioned below. A great product with no ecosystem. The work on the ecosystem has progressed since that time, and we will now be able to launch into a fully functioning ecosystem that is made for PicoP. ]

I'm sticking with my previous analysis -- that Mobile companies MUST use PicoP

Theatre is best viewed with another person - it's best when it's shared. Mobile devices with PicoP will reform mobile media viewing from a solo activity to a shared activity.

It may also represent significant progress toward curing neck pain as a result of cell phone use. Health24

From MediaPost

Over the years, many innovative products have been misinterpreted as “disruptive.” No technology – no matter how innovative – is inherently disruptive. Google Search is a classic example of an innovative product that only truly became disruptive after a smart business model was introduced (AdWords).

Similarly, iPod and iPhone were both well-designed products, but only became disruptive due to the creation of iTunes and the App Store, respectively.

The reality is that Metaio followed the path of many other classic technology companies and focused on products rather than creating a sustainable business model to build long-term consumer behavior.

In taking the buyout, Metaio is somewhat acknowledging that it hasn’t identified a way to deliver on the potential of its range of content.

Strategically, this isn’t a bad move for either company. In fact, it’s a good one. Apple gets proven software and an established customer base to kick start its AR wearables efforts, while Metaio gets a nice exit and joins a team with a stellar reputation for innovation.

So while not a bad business decision, it’s still disappointing to see a low appetite for risk from an emerging industry that has such strong potential for growth and disruption. This space is exploding, with many predicting that AR, IR and VR technologies will drive a transformation not seen since the introduction of mobile.

And yet, despite all of the recent industry activity, it’s still a pretty nascent market as companies develop new strategies that will forever change how we consume and engage with content.

As we stand on the cusp of a new stage in how consumers will interact with the world around them, it’s important to remember the distinction between an innovative product and a disruptive business model.

While behemoths like Apple will continue to play a tremendous role in driving the market forward, there’s plenty of room for a company with a foothold today to become the next Facebook, Uber or Snapchat.

Selling a treasure chest of IP-related to AR now is analogous to being back in the 1990s -- and selling keys to the Internet.

Sony Selling Bonds to increase production

Sony is investing to increase production of devices... our neighborhood.


At Wall Street Journal

Sony Plans $3.6 Billion Stock, Bond Offering

Japanese electronics maker plans to invest in image sensor business.

TOKYO— Sony Corp. said it would issue new shares for the first time since 1989, part of a $3.6 billion capital-raising plan that highlighted the potential of its fast-growing sensor business but left some investors nervous.

The Japanese entertainment and electronics giant said it would raise ¥322 billion ($2.63 billion) by offering new shares and ¥120 billion by selling convertible bonds.

Sony said much of the proceeds will be spent to raise production capacity for image sensors used in smartphones, including AppleInc.’s iPhone and Samsung Electronic Co.’s Galaxy.

Sony is a front-runner in the image sensor business, boasting a technological edge that is at least a few years ahead of its competitors, including Samsung and OmniVision Technologies Inc. But it suffers from capacity constraints in trying to meet soaring demand, especially from China, where shipments of affordable handsets are expected to grow further.

Chief Executive Kazuo Hirai said in April that, with the restructuring largely complete, Sony would embark on an aggressive investment campaign to generate growth. Sony has set a target of ¥500 billion in operating profit by fiscal 2017, with a return-on-equity ratio of more than 10%.

The company is ramping up investment in its best earners—devices, videogames, movies and music. Mr. Hirai has said it won’t rule out exiting the television and smartphone businesses, as it did the personal computers last year.

Write to Takashi Mochizuki at takashi.mochizuki@wsj.com

At Reuters

Sony had previously flagged smaller-scale commitments to expand in sensors. It said in April that it would spend 45 billion yen to bolster sensor production capacity this fiscal year, on top of a 105 billion yen investment announced in February.

A Sony executive recently told Reuters that demand for sensors was now so strong that it was struggling to keep up.

Motley Fool & Augmented Reality

This is a repeat article. Good. Makes me curious when the next article about the topic with new information will hit the press.

Augmented reality is probably going to get mass adoption far faster than we think.

When MVIS gets the attention of Motley Fool, interesting things will start to happen.

I suspect they've seen the chart of Augmented Reality Patents and Augmented and Head Mounted Patents

Apple acquires Metaio (for augmented Reality Patents)

From Motley Fool

The Foolish bottom lineAt the end of the day, we ask ourselves, how can virtual reality add value?

• In the entertainment industry, content is key. Virtual reality offers studios the ability to create better content and have access to wider distribution -- boosting sales of games, movies, or tickets.
• In the corporate world, efficiency is key. More cost-effective communication tools could save on SG&A, but still preserve the meeting-room feel.
• In advertising, data is key. Augmented reality could make life easier for consumers or skilled workers, but also provide feedback on their habits or needs.

We think the adoption of virtual reality can have a big impact on many industries all over the world(s).

Hype? 

The potential for practical application AND entertainment is huge.

Smart helmet on Bloomberg

From MyBroadband

The way we consume information: Imagine going to a library or museum and being able to have a “conversation” with key people throughout history, or instantly transform the world around to you resemble a bygone era.

The fields of product development, marketing and customer engagement: Overlaying new digital services into retail environments opens up a host of new possibilities for organisations to tailor products to their consumers.

Back office/operational functions within the organisation: Companies are already finding ways to use AR in their supply chain, logistics and warehousing environments. Find out, for example, if a particular unit is missing from a shelf.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeny at Gamespresso

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney claimed that Virtual Reality is just a niche concept for casual gamers in a recent interview with GamesIndustry. He also went on to state that Augmented Reality will become the next big thing in the developing realm.

“Whereas AR, if you look out a number of years I bet the majority of mankind will have an AR device – it will redefine interaction with computers and replace computer monitors, tablets, televisions and every kind of play technology.” While AR may be a view years out, it’s exciting to think about the endless ways AR could be incorporated not into just video games, but into daily life as well.

Sweeney promises more news within the year and we can only hope to apart of the Augmented Reality Generation.

Nintendo NX

Can Nintendo NX replace both the portable game system and the home console? 

That would require some kind of new display to do so effectively.

WII U
Nintendo 3DS

International Business Times

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has commented on the company's next piece of games-dedicated hardware, codenamed 'NX', hinting that it may be replace both their Wii U home console and Nintendo 3DS handheld.

Iwata also spoke about why Nintendo is holding off on detailing the NX until 2016. "We can't talk about the NX," he said. "If we do, competitors may take our ideas and customers won't be surprised."

Nintendo's NX was announced as being in the works in March, in tandem with the company's declaration that it is to develop mobile games for the very first time. Shortly after the news broke we speculated as to what the NX might be, suggesting it could be both a handheld and home device.

Disruption

He is writing about something else, but the comments about disruption are perfect, and describe why you want to be invested in this disruptive technology.

MicroVision is going to disrupt information display: screens are on their way to a steep decline. MicroVision is just getting started at replacing them. Given the increasing speed at which a superior technology can replace an inferior one we're about to see an amazing transformation. 

Most media consumption has gone mobile, because people like it. Now their second most important criteria - screen size, is about to catch up.

Koyfman is writing here about Tesla, but the sentiments apply to MicroVision just as much. 

(I remain dubious about the particular disruption Tesla is attempting, but not about the MicroVision disruption.)

From WealthDaily

In 1906, the Royal Navy launched a ship that changed the course of history.

It's not widely known outside academic circles or high school history classes, but the commissioning of the HMS Dreadnought in the years before World War I rendered every previous warship type obsolete.

The design of this first-of-its-kind ship — which gave its name to both a class (in the British navy) and a general type (in all navies) of large battleship — was the result of many lessons learned in the largely sea-fought Russo-Japanese War.

Armed with 10 12-inch guns mounted on five traversable turrets, powered by steam turbines, and protected by a thick belt of armor below the waterline, the Dreadnought was the prototype for all large, gun-bearing capital ships right through the end of the Second World War.

It was able to concentrate more firepower, move faster, and take more damage than anything that came before it — and any one of these three advantages would have already been crucial in its own right.

By the time the First World War started in 1914, all modern navies possessed Dreadnought-type battleships. And although the original Dreadnought had been matched and even outclassed by that time, its overall layout carried through to ships we still recognize today, like the Iowa-class battleships that fought the Pacific War against the Japanese Empire.

But as you may have guessed, this article isn't about ships, and it's not about war... It's about the concept of disruption — something the Dreadnought achieved at a level seldom seen in history.

Don't think of it as a weapon; think of it as a product... a product that made all preceding products in that class as good as dead.

GOOGLE

Back in the late 1990s, Google made perhaps the single most profound disruptive innovation by changing the way scientists, university professors, and eventually people from all walks of life find and share information.

The concept of a library — a place where public knowledge is stored and accessed and something that had been with humanity since thousands of years before the Common Era — was forever made obsolete by a single algorithm that just happened to manage freely available data.

Elusive, Game Changing, World Changing

From an investment standpoint, there is absolutely nothing like a disruptive technology — as long as you get in before the disruption.

Just think of the guy who gave Henry Ford his first seed capital to develop the Model T, which disrupted the luxury-only automotive industry and the production industry in one fell swoop.

In today's world, however, it's not always as easy to see a paradigm-shifting new development coming.

Most of us only realize it's arrived long after the fact, and that's something that's unfortunately never going to change.

However, some impending disruptions are easier to spot than others.

There is one in the works right now that you've almost definitely heard of and probably even know a thing or two about.

Few people realize, though, just how disruptive this coming technological revolution is.

Accessory Projector = NOT too big.

The vast majority of the people who read this are in the US. I live in the US. One of the things I hear about having a projector *attached* to a cellphone is that it would be "too big."

Lately as I do my digging around MicroVision I have been seeing a lot of reference to accessory lenses for mobile phones.

So, what's too big? If people are willing to carry these things around to take pictures... they'll be willing to carry that and more around to SHOW them. (We like to look at pictures a lot more than we like to take them.)

It might fit expectations in the US. But there will be nothing "too big" about PicoP in other markets.

Kodak Pixpro

Action Life Media

SONY



Google Search Cellphone accessory Lenses ($80+)

OnePlus2 Feature unveiling tomorrow

They recently confirmed they'll be using a USB C connector (or adding one). It has significant advantages over older connectors.

The image they're using suggests that there will be a couple of reveals between now and the time the phone is unveiled -- which is probably pushed back from it's previous June 28 release date. (I'm looking.)

OnePlus is the kind of innovative company that would be a great fit for early adoption of PicoP. OnePlus also serves India, which I think will have huge demand for the technology. [Indian Demand] 

OnePlus on Google+
OnePlus on Twitter

From TabTec

Carl Pei further revealed that while the OnePlus One was designed to be on par with whatever the high-end market had / has to offer, the OnePlus 2 will push the limits further and provide an “amazing user experience” that won’t be easily matched. The competition, according to Carl, will not only try to get on par with the OnePlus 2 this fall, but “throughout 2016 and beyond” as well.

From BGR India

OnePlus is really ramping up the hype in the run up to the launch of the OnePlus 2. The company has been revealing specifics of the forthcoming flagship every day and now announced that the next unveil will come tomorrow. While we wait, we thought of taking a guess as to what could be announced next.

Until now, it has revealed that the OnePlus 2 will be powered by an improved version of Snapdragon 810 processor that has allegedly overcome the heating issues, and will be among the first to boast USB Type-C port. Furthermore, the company has also laid speculations to rest by saying that the flagship will cost upwards of $322 or Rs 20,500.

Samsung Transparent Projector Truck.

An interesting safety idea, and something that would be economically feasible with PicoP. ( I have no idea what display technology this prototype is using or what kind of display technology Samsung is thinking of using.)

More at TheVerge

Mercedes Self-driving car. Interesting Projector Functions

Check out some of the projections that come out of this car. I've seen this application before, but this is the largest use of it, and it's something I think we could all imagine becoming fairly common. Not just with cars, but in hallways, on bicycles... and anywhere information needs to be some of the time - that needs to be changed.

Verizon & AT&T see Huge Opportunity for Mobile Video

People like mobile first, then big screens. When a technology like PicoP can provide them both -- it's going to be extremely valuable to mobile data providers. 

Verizon sees 80% of media consumption going mobile!

SONY and Verizon are cooperating: (Sony Z4v at Verizon)

Something else very interesting in this article is the amount AT&T is paying for DirecTV. The value of content for mobile networks is huge -- and PicoP can deliver content for anyone -- and probably will be for everyone. Will we get to a 48.5 Billion valuation? (ATT buys DirecTV) 

To deliver content, you need the pipes, the content, and the medium. PicoP is the link between portability and large screen experience.



From MyWayNews

We see the world shifting very quickly to mobile and we believe that mobile will represent 80 percent of consumers' media consumption in the coming years. And the Verizon-AOL partnership will allow us to capture that shifting opportunity," said Verizon CFO Fran Shammo on a conference call.

Verizon's mobile video service will work on competitors' networks as well as on Wi-Fi and will include ad-supported data, says Verizon executive vice president Marni Walden. That could mean an advertiser pays for some of the data required — video is a data hog.

Verizon is securing deals for live and on-demand content, Walden said. The company currently has the rights to the Live Earth concert, a partnership with the NFL that lets wireless phone subscribers pay $5 a month to watch live football games and a deal for exclusive content with AwesomenessTV, an Internet video network.

AT&T, Verizon's wireless rival, has gone in a different direction with video. It's buying satellite TV provider DirecTV for $48.5 billion. Regulators must still approve that deal.

Microsoft to WOW advertisers with Hololens at Cannes

Augmented Reality is MicroVision's next big space. And MicroVision's PicoP will also have the ability to advertise effectively in new and exciting ways. It's an area to watch closely.

Full article at WSJ

The toughest ticket for executives attending the Cannes advertising festival this week isn’t an exclusive yacht party or a private concert. It’s a HoloLens demo.

That’s according to multiple ad buyers who have been briefed on Microsoft’s Cannes plans, and have been angling to get their clients and colleagues a first-hand look at Microsoft’s supposedly mind-blowing augmented reality technology.

Indeed, Microsoft officials seem to believe they have a product that will dazzle advertisers. Some ad buyers said Microsoft is looking for $10 million to $12 million commitments for brands to build virtual versions of their products for HoloLens (imagine, say, a virtual car demo). Others say prices are lower, but that Microsoft is driving a hard bargain. HoloLens won’t hit the market until sometime later this year.
On the flip side, some ad buyers think Microsoft should move faster and get HoloLens in front of as many marketers as possible to unlock creative thinking.

“I think HoloLens could be really exciting for them, but not enough people have seen it yet,” said one ad executive. “When you see it, you become an instant convert. But describing it in a PowerPoint deck is not going to give marketers reasons to figure out what to do with it. They need to do more demos.”

Who cares how much a game console weighs?

Many of us have long thought that PicoP would fit perfectly in a gaming device. Gamers like new stuff. They like to play games with other people. Portable games would be a lot more popular if they had the same horsepower and screen size as console games.

So, this may be nothing -- or really interesting. But a console game is something you take home, set up and leave there. (Maybe they do things differently in Japan?) Being concerned about the weight of a home gaming console seems odd -- unless it's getting a significant change and it's intended to be portable.

From Gamingbolt

"After initial leaks saw Sony filing a patent with the FCC for a 1TB PS4 earlier this month, the company has made it official alongside an announcement that a new version of the PS4 will be coming to Japan that is lighter and draws less power. The console with the 1TB HDD will be heading to Europe on July 15 and will make it to the US sometime after that, with an official release date in North America unknown."

Read more at http://gamingbolt.com/sony-officially-announces-lighter-ps4-as-well-as-version-with-1tb-hdd#uPG0AKxh8MI3e46g.99

Market Capitalization

Occasionally we can benefit from a different way of looking at things.

A healthier company will have an increasing market capitalization.


Read the whole post at TrimbathCreative

I track the market cap of all my stocks because it is the easiest way to see if the company is progressing, even if the stock isn’t. MicroVision seems like it is progressing, yet the stock doesn’t seem to reflect that. That was my feeling, but when it comes to investments I like to judge based on data when reasonable. The results surprised me.



At my six month checkups, MVIS hasn’t been above $6 since I’ve tracked the numbers in 2006. Its high was barely above $5 and its low was below $1. There was a 1:8 reverse split in early 2012, so if you look back online you’ll see a high eight times higher, just above $40. That looks dismal. It feels that way too, because I’ve been buying MVIS since 2000 and have shares at the equivalent of $56. That’s tough medicine from a regular exercise for a stock that traded on Friday at $3.08. The quoted stock price has been low, but constrained, compared to the price with the splits included. Neither line on the chart is encouraging.

Great Use Case - Le Petit Chef by Skullmapping

Awesome use for projection -- PicoP everywhere!

Project of Skull Mapping

We might need to introduce them to PicoP, but they have the right idea.

Samsung S7 -Rumors of "massive upgrades" + "mini projector?"

It's a bit pre-mature to give this a lot of weight. The source is somewhat dubious, and the rumor is about something something far in the future. This is something to watch closely, and if it turns out to be true, could be huge news.

From Galaxy7buzz

From Appishness (from December, 2014)

@DayHerald

"The other features of the Samsung Galaxy S7 include a 30MP ultra-lowlight sensitivity sensor and is further equipped with an ultrafast fingerprint detective sensor along with a mini projector."

The rumors regarding the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S7 started after the Galaxy S6 and the S6 Edge was revealed this March. It has a rumored release date of 2016 first quarter. According to reports from South Korean website ET News, an affiliated official revealed that Samsung is expanding the investments on the panels which are used for the displays of flagship Samsung devices.

According to the report, the company has requested around 8 million flexible panels per month for the Samsung Galaxy S7. Tech Radar further revealed that the S7 will possibly include the same curved edge of its predecessor.

SONY creates "Viable Cable Killer"

This could turn out to be really big. It's different, and it could be an excellent part of the PicoP ecosystem.

SONY JUST TURNED ITS PLAYSTATION VUE STREAMING SERVICE INTO A VIABLE CABLE KILLER

From PopularScience


From TechCrunch


Today at Sony’s E3 2015 press conference the company announced that it will unbundle its Vue streaming channels and offer the stations a la carte. In doing so, Sony becomes the first provider to offer (at least some) TV stations to the American consumer without bundles.

Details are still a bit fuzzy but it seems clear-cut. Subscribers will be able to choose which stations they want in their lineup although at first the selection is very limited.

Sony Computer Entertainment President and Global CEO Andrew House took the stage and described Playstation Vue as more than a streaming service. “It’s a complete live TV experience,” he said, “designed for the gamer, making it simpler and easier to find the television they want.”

House stated that service will be available in July and Sony is rolling the PlayStation Vue to San Francisco and Los Angeles tonight.

Laser display technology Chinese perspective.

Below is a translation (used Google Translate) Clearly the translation isn't particularly smooth and the precise meaning of some of this may be impossible to discern.

It is clear however, that the Chinese see great potential in laser technology, see that significant advances have been made in laser display technology, and one name that really sticks out in laser display technology is MicroVision.

I will be checking the English Language version of Ofweek for this story and hopefully get a better translation. OfWeek English Version

Thanks for the heads up Joe!!

From OfWeek

Laser display technology is expected to industrialization gave birth to large-cap companies

2015-06-16 10:22:33 

Source: Shenwan Hong

REVIEW: a new generation of display technology, laser display technology and cost dual advantage to enjoy broad application space. Laser display technology with a wide color gamut, long life, environmental protection, energy saving and environmental protection, etc., and its importance increased gradually in the display industry.

OFweek laser 

Reuters: the next generation display technology, laser display technology and cost dual advantage to enjoy broad application space. Laser display technology with a wide color gamut, long life, environmental protection, energy saving and environmental protection, etc., and its importance increased gradually in the display industry. And in terms of cost, laser show production equipment investment small-scale investment can be put installments from tens of millions to billions of dollars. In addition, the laser display product cost reduction potential, with the introduction of industrial-scale expansion and new technology, enabling the display device to enhance the quality and reduce the cost of double effect.

Mature technology, international manufacturers have preparations underway, occupied heights next-generation display. Is expected to 2026, annual sales of laser display products reach $500 billion. International display and photovoltaic industry giants into the laser display industry as the target rushed to carry out research and development. Direction of the laser display each product, whether large screen or projector phone have been fully developed.

Technological development of global synchronization, the policy boost, accelerate industrialization. Our laser display technology a solid foundation has been established technology chain from the core optical materials and devices, semiconductors and solid-state to the machine. Currently the industry chain has been basically completed, the laser display industry is gradually transition to the growth phase. National support for the display industry has been strong, and spare no effort to promote the industrialization process of the laser show, private capital combined with organic research output.

Laser products rich, this year is expected in cinemas, laser projectors, security and military fields robust growth.

In recent years, a laser show in the field of large-screen display layout gradually complete China DVISION, Belgium Barco (Barco), Nippon Electric pillar Agency (NEC), Christie cinema projectors, projectors have been available; Micro Focus laser projection of Microvision (MVIS) has already launched small size of component parts, and the world's top consumer electronics manufacturers, auto parts manufacturers signed a supply contract. 2014, each flourishing field of laser display products, the major manufacturers have signed a supply contract release announcement. Laser display products in various fields mature, improve distribution channels, power laser show robust growth in all areas.

******************************************************************************************************激光显示技术走向产业化有望催生大市值公司
2015-06-16 10:22:33来源： 申万宏源 我要分享 评论投稿订阅
导读： 新一代显示技术,激光显示以技术成本双重优势享广阔应用空间。激光显示技术具有色域范围广、寿命长、环保、节能环保等优点,其重要性在显示行业内逐步提升。
　　OFweek激光网讯：新一代显示技术,激光显示以技术成本双重优势享广阔应用空间。激光显示技术具有色域范围广、寿命长、环保、节能环保等优点,其重要性在显示行业内逐步提升。且在成本上,激光显示生产装备投资规模小,投资可以从几千万美元到几十亿美元分期投入。另外,激光显示产品成本下降潜力大,随着产业规模的扩大和新技术的采用,可实现显示器件品质提升与成本降低双重功效。
　　技术发展成熟,国际厂商纷纷厉兵秣马,占领下一代显示高地。预计到2026年,激光显示产品年销售额将达5,000亿美元。国际显示和光电产业巨头都将激光显示产业化为作为目标竞相开展研发。激光显示的各个产品化方向,不论是大屏幕还是手机式投影仪都得到了全面发展。
　　我国技术发展全球同步,政策助力,产业化加速推进。我国的激光显示技术基础坚实,已经建立了从核心光学材料与器件、半导体与全固态至整机的技术链。目前产业链已经基本建成,激光显示产业正逐步向成长阶段过渡。国家对于显示产业一直大力扶持,并且不遗余力的推进激光显示的产业化进程,民营资本与科研产出有机结合。
　　激光产品丰富,今年有望在电影院、激光工程投影、安防军事领域放量增长。
　　近年激光显示在大屏显示领域的布局逐渐完整,中国迪威视讯、比利时巴可(Barco)、日本电气柱式社(NEC)、美国科视的影院投影机、工程投影机相继面市;专注微型激光投影的Microvision(MVIS)早已推出体积微小的元部件,并与全球顶尖的电子消费品制造商、汽车零部件制造商签订了供货合同。2014年,各领域激光显示产品百花齐放,各大厂商相继放出签订供货合同公告。激光显示各领域产品成熟、渠道布局完善,助力激光显示在各领域放量增长。
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With computing sticks -- PicoPro can be a complete PC.

With Celluon's PicoPro, MicroVision can ALREADY help you keep a complete PC with a large screen display -- in your POCKET.

MotleyFool

5 Gadgets under $100 that will blow your mind.

This Timing Power RK3188 Android Mini PC combines deceptive power with sleek style. Image source: Timing Power.


Daniel B. Kline (Computing sticks):Improving technology has redefined the definition of portability when it comes to computers. Portable used to mean laptops (and way back in the day, lugging around the early Apple Macs). Now, portable encompasses form factors ranging widely from tablets to hybrids to other tweener devices. The most interesting of these, however, might be the computing sticks

Under $100 gets you a full-powered computer the size of a fat flash memory stick. To stay within a $100 budget, you'll have to settle for a stick running Google (NASDAQ: GOOG ) (NASDAQ: GOOGL ) Chrome OS or Android; those running Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT ) Windows cost closer to $200. For that price, however, you'll get a mini-computer that fits in your pocket. Simply plug it into a HDMI slot on a TV or computer monitor, add a keyboard and mouse, and you're good to go.

This has the potential to change the computing equation for travelers and businesspeople alike. It also lowers the price point for full-powered computing devices to the point at which a computer with a familiar Chrome or Android interface is affordable to a much larger population. Computing sticks are not Raspberry Pi cheap, but they are accessible and should be popular specifically among people whose first connected device is an Android phone.

TimingPowerCompany

Projected display will make device size irrelevant.

And we know MicroVision with Sony has the ability to do this NOW. (We should be seeing products being released any time now.)

At NetworkWorld

Fredric Paul

I'm a big "phan" of giant phablet devices. That's not because I like to tote around comically large slabs of metal and plastic, but because I find smartphones more useful the more screen real estate they present.

Last week, Chinese tech manufacturer Lenovo showed off its Smart Cast concept phone at its own Tech World conference in Beijing. Like a concept car, it's not clear if the Smart Cast phone will ever make it to production, but the technology has the potential to eventually shatter the connection between device size and screen size. By projecting the device's touch screen on to any convenient surface, smartphones may one day be able to have displays of any size. Critically, the Smart Cast technology lets you interact with the projected screen, so you can use it as a keyboard or other input channel, as well as a monitor.

Tech Investing Daily

Another Investing Blog picks us up inside of two weeks --an excellent sign for stockholders. Others are starting to see the value of this gem of a company.

It is the same author as published as referred in the previous post, but a different location. 

About the author


From Tech Investing Daily

With SmartCast, a smartphone doesn't just project an image or a video onto a surface — it actually transforms that surface into an interactive window capable of reading hand gestures and registering touch.

This effectively turns any wall into a giant smartphone face with full, seamless interfacing.

MicroVision leads the field in this technology, but it is a startlingly small company.

It holds 233 patents relevant to micro-projectors and augmented reality — the technology pioneered in the SmartCast user interface.

That's more than any other company... more than Google, Samsung, and Microsoft put together.

But the more impressive figure is 3.5. That's the average number of patents per employee.

Despite its dominance in the field, MicroVision has only 66 employees and trades in the very modest $3 range for a total market capitalization of $150 million.

Companies that small with advantages that huge typically don't stay there for too long.

If projection technology comes anywhere near the popularity and rate of adoption we saw with cameras, those patents will be worth billions in royalties.

Camera-equipped smartphones have gone up in sales by a factor of five, from 200 million to 1 billion units sold annually between 2009 and 2013.

Numbers aside, however, MicroVision will have its day in the sun because it does one thing that all successful tech companies must do to make a name: disrupt the market.

Investing in Technologies on the cusp...

This is a good sign.... next stop Motley Fool

From Wealth Daily

Small Equals Nimble, Not Weak

Or how about a company called MicroVision, Inc. (NASDAQ: MVIS), a Nasdaq-listed tech microcap based out of Redmond, Washington — just down the street from Microsoft's corporate headquarters?

It has reinvented the high-definition projector using lasers in place of LEDs to produce a bright, colorful, room-sized picture from a projector small enough to be fitted into future smartphone models.

The company has 66 employees, is valued at more than $150 million as of today's share price, holds more relevant patents in augmented reality, miniaturization, and head-mounted displays than any other company in the U.S. — and it still thinks of itself as a start-up.

Check it out yourself and see what I mean. You'll be amazed that companies with this much upside can go all but unnoticed by the global consumer market... and reminded that even the biggest success stories have to start somewhere. 

good find Allesandro

The Next Megatech Theme - CNBC

Given MicroVision's position in augmented reality patents, this made me smile.

Google, Samsung, Sony, Facebook,

PicoTV

PicoTV -- new trademark filed by Celluon.

TV tuner + PicoProjector + ?

Also looking for one called "PicoBit."

I suspect PicoBit is the first sighting of what was an obvious use for PicoP some time ago... (AppleTV + PicoP + iPod)  -- I suspect Celluon is going to beat Apple to the punch at revolutionizing TV.

Sony TV tuner for Mobile Devices

SONY Digital TV for smartphones (being used in the wild now.) -- Also Able to record!

It seems like some awesome things are coming together.

I'm sure it's also getting much more difficult for some people to doubt the coming success of this technology.

More will show up here as it's found.
https://trademarks.justia.com/866/48/picotv-86648894.html

AppleTV is gamechanger (unless Celluon beats them to the punch.)

(good digging chambmc0530!)

Augmented Reality Market is HOT

MicroVision is the leader in Augmented Reality patents. Ahead of Apple, Sony, Microsoft, Samsung, Google, IBM...

The Augmented Reality Market should grow from $500 Million in 2016 to $120 Billion in 2020. (Yes, that's 240X)

It wouldn't surprise me if we get some kind of offer, that I hope very sincerely is rejected. MicroVision is at the forefront of TWO major technological leaps that are occurring NOW.



Augmented World Expo

Boeing on Augmented Reality

Business Korea

According to industry sources on June 8, major IT companies are buying firms that are working on AR or showcasing new products.

The size of the AR market is expected to increase from US$500 million in 2016 to US$120 billion in 2020

 AR has the potential to be used in everyday life or numerous industry areas. AR technology can be used in fields like remote medical diagnosis, broadcasting, architectural design, and manufacturing process control.

The reason for foreign companies to focus on the AR market lies in its steep growth curve. Apple acquired AR solution developer Metaio in May. Virtual reality headset maker Oculus VR, which is a Facebook subsidiary, also recently revealed its interest in AR through the purchase of Surreal Vision.

Facebook buys Oculus Rift for 2 Billion

Apple buys Metaio

Facebook buys Surreal Vision

History's most expensive yawn (UPDATED)

Apple had their Word Wide Developer Conference keynote speech this morning.

WWDC Highlights at THE VERGE

It delivered adjustments to some things - improvements to their products and software certainly. There was no WOW factor at all, (a Kando-free performance). The most exciting thing for the attendees was an upgrade of Swift, their programming language.

They did unveil their "new" music service, which apparently is a mixing of their acquisition "Beats" & iTunes. I wasn't impressed, and I'm kind of dreading needing to re-learn how to manage my music with iTunes.

The way I see it, Apple could have offered something that really wowed their fans, but they didn't.

Someday, they'll follow SONY into that territory.


Apple KILLS iPod

"Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry, who thinks Apple will ship 40 million unitsof the Watch in 2015, told Benzinga that the Apple Music service was a disappointment.

He said that this “is a me-too offering, which is not what Apple is considered to be. They should always be exponentially better than whatever else is available."

From Business Insider

"Because Apple Music offers only a paid subscription, and because Pandora is used mostly as a free streaming app, it looks as if the two services will not compete. This, of course, assumes that that people who like free music now will not suddenly develop an urge to start paying for it in the future."

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/pandora-v-apple-music-2015-6#ixzz3cfZANDtt

The Telegraph  --

“There is definitely an appetite among iTunes users for this kind of service - over 20% of them already stream compared to 14% on average,” said Andy Saxton, consumer retail analyst at Kantar Worldpanel. “Yet with nearly three quarters currently using Spotify, the challenge for Apple will be to convert these users to their own platform.”

It's REALLY hard to get people to pay for what they're used to getting for free -- even for a company like Apple. Maybe they'll get a return on their $3Billion, but I retain my skepticism. 

Bloomberg -- "huh?" they didn't say it, but they have no idea what Apple is selling.

Tech Crunch Apple Buys Beats for 3 Billion

Apple Trapping Customers

@CNET

From Laser Focus World

At Laser Focus World


In the last few years, picoprojectors have all but faded away in smartphone--at least until the Lenovo Techworld event in Beijing last week where Lenovo showed off a pre-production smartphone containing a laser pico projector. Not only can this phone project an image on a screen, but if you stand the phone up on its end using its built-in stand and flip a lens around at its top, this smartphone can project a virtual keyboard on a hard surface, while reading back your finger positions. Even better, any image can be created, resulting in a virtual touch screen on the surface in front of the phone.

The Lenovo smartphone uses a micro projector that is less than 5 mm thick, while still incorporating red, green, and blue lasers, lens, and micro mirrors. Lenovo hasn’t said if they created the micro projector themselves or if it’s purchased from another company, but several companies do produce laser picoprojector modules, including Microvision (Redmond, WA) and Compound Photonics (Durham, England).

The total worldwide picoprojector market was less than 9 million units in 2014 while at the same time more than a billion wireless phones were sold. Could the introduction of the first laser picoprojector in a smartphone be the beginning of a new trend? Possibly.

Iris HUD - will come in laser

This looks like a very interesting product. We're a good fit for it. They will be doing both DLP and Laser based products.

From their Facebook Page:

We have both versions. [laser and DLP] We have limited quantity of Laser Display Allocated for the Indiegogo Campaign, as they tend to be more costly. We also have the DLP version which is for our main rewards. For production after the crowd funding campaign we will definitely have the ability to supply large quantities of the Laser version being that the numbers need to be quite high to be able to keep costs down. Both versions are fantastic and you would be amazed at what the DLP version can do. Having said that be sure to stay tuned for the start of the Campaign to assure yourself a Laser Version if you desire one.




IRIS HUD from Counting Ants Productions on Vimeo.

At Digital Trends

The Iris HUD is reportedly ready for production, but the development team needs some financial support to kickstart the manufacturing process. To move things along, the group will launch an Indiegogo campaign on Monday, June 8.

If enough cash is raised, shipping is expected to begin in the fall of this year. The device will retail for $499, but early pledges can net you the product for $299.

Micromax: A Company to Watch Closely

This company produces new phones quickly. They take chances. They're innovative.

Of course, at a rate this fast, producing a PicoP product, separate from their phones seems to validate the "stand alone first" strategy of MicroVision management.

There's a lot more at the original article.


At Wall Street Journal


Early last year, product planners at India’s best-selling phone maker decided consumers wanted a handset that could be operated in many of the country’s 20-plus official languages.

Four months later, Micromax Informatics Ltd. unveiled the $110 Unite, which let users label their apps, type, send messages and interact on social media in 21 different scripts—from Marathi and Gujarati to Tamil—rather than just English and Hindi, as is common for Indian phones.

“We turn around faster than any other company,” said Micromax Chief Executive Vineet Taneja,as he reviewed mock-up models of more than 10 phones in the company’s buzzing Delhi headquarters.

Micromax sits at the bleeding edge of the global smartphone wars.

While Apple Inc. launches only two new iPhone models a year and Xiaomi around four, Micromax shipped more than 30 new smartphones last year ranging in price from $50 to more than $300—as well as a host of no-frills feature phones.

Micromax cuts language barrier



The most unique feature of Unite 3 would be, a user can easily translate or transliterate (change the script of the text) on the phone.

The awaited technology would be as simple as just swiping the screen on the phone which would perform the former operation within a few seconds.

Ericsson Mobility Report

• Enormous number of smart phones and smart devices being used, with many more on the way.
• Video counts for more and more of the traffic
• Big screens matter a lot  (We have the biggest.)
• Special events drive a lot of traffic

MicroVision's technology is in the right place at the right time. The demand for what MVIS offers is staggering, and people don't know they can get it yet. As investors, we're absolutely at the right place at the right time.

There are more and more devices being dreamed up on a daily basis that can incorporate PicoP. 

Mobile consumers consume mostly video -- which is where MicroVision's technology really shines.

Big screens allow people to SHARE the video experience -- so the fact that special events drive a lot of traffic --- that's fantastic --- people like to watch the big game together, even more than they like to share the Big Bang Theory. You can't share it on a phone, only with difficulty with a pad, but with PicoP -- it's easy.

Mobility Report from Ericsson

Forbes 

From TechCrunch

"Today there are 2.6 billion smartphone subscriptions globally, and while growth has been levelling off in developed markets like the U.S. and Europe, it’s not stalling altogether by a long shot. By 2020, globally there will be 6.1 smartphone users led by huge growth in less mature markets. And with 6.1 billion smartphones in circulation, we will see a tipping point of sorts: smartphones will finally overtake the number of active fixed line subscriptions worldwide in 2020."

"The numbers come from the latest annual Mobility Report from Ericsson, which is being published today. Using data gathered from around 100 carriers globally, Ericsson uses this to paint a picture of what is going on right now, as well as what to expect in the future, covering not just how many people are using mobile networks but also how they are using mobile."

"Those 6.1 billion smartphone users works out to some 70 percent of the world’s population using smartphones in five years’ time, a measure of just how central these devices are becoming to how we communicate with each other and do much more."

"In fact, “total mobile” subscriptions by 2020 will actually number 9.2 billion. When you take into account Internet-of-things and M2M services, mobile broadband and even some basic remaining feature phones, there will be 26 billion connected devices in five years’ time. (As some point out, however, this is actually a downward revision from Ericsson’s previous forecast of 50 billion connected devices.)"

"Video already accounts for 45 percent of app traffic, will rise to 60 percent. The story here is about OTT providers like YouTube and Netflix, which are the two most popular and therefore the biggest gobblers of bandwidth. This is a fact that is not going away: video consumption on mobile is currently growing at a rate of 55 percent annually, Ericsson says. It further notes that YouTube alone accounts for between 40-60 percent of all video traffic today. Interestingly, music streaming is in a firm second place, and although it is “gaining popularity” its unlikely to overtake video at any point. Part of the reason for this is because a lot of music consumption is offline. Social network only accounts for 15%."

Marquee events are driving huge amounts of usage. Ericsson notes that the 2014 football world championship was “one of the biggest social media events of 2014,” and that boom also played out on mobile with people using their smartphones to text, talk and post on social networks. In all the World Cup generated 26.7 TeraBytes (TB) of traffic, “the data equivalent of 48.5 million digital photos plus 4.5 million voice calls.”

Size matters. It’s long been known that the size of the screen impacts what and how much a person consumers. Specifically, video continues to be a magnet service for tablet users — no surprise, given the larger screen and overall better experience. What’s interesting is that this does not trickle down to other kinds of functions that are more interactive.