Growth of Pico Projector Market

CXO Today    MORE at the source

Pico projectors have been there for nearly a decade. However, nearly all of the devices available in the market were considered “dumb”, as they had no operating system to speak to and required a host device to be connected to them to provide the content. All that is changing today. The growth of the market is largely driven by smartphones and tablets among others. Many new Pico projectors are offering an Android operating system and some even offer wireless streaming. 

In the initial days, the image quality produced by a normal Pico projector was not satisfactory; therefore, there was a demand for general projectors with a good and sharp image quality, at a similar price range. The issues with image quality were resolved with the development and introduction of high-definition (HD) Pico projectors. Players in the ecosystems of Pico projector have started the development of HD Pico projectors. Recently in October 2015, Sony introduced MP-CL1 mobile projector. This Pico projector delivers HD resolution using laser light as a source and was priced at USD 349.99.

Mobile, wearables driving growth

“Mobile electronic devices offer consumers and corporate users the portability they desire, causing an increasing number of users to employ products like smart phones and netbook PCs as their primary platforms for computing and Internet access,” said Sanju Khatri, principal analyst, signage/projection, for iSuppli.

Introduction of the Pico projector has given significant opportunity for the development of an innovative wearable electronic device. Players in the ecosystem of Pico projectors have done lots of research and development so that Pico projectors can be embedded into wearable electronics. Cicret (France) is one such company which has developed a bracelet which includes the Pico projector as one of many components; other components include proximity sensor, accelerometer, and vibration module. The company is planning to start its manufacturing by fall of 2016 and the bracelet is expected to be available to consumers by the end of 2016.

APAC a vibrant market

Lenovo Group, Sony Corporation and Haier are some of the players involved in the development and introduction of Pico projectors into their products. 

With deals and acquisitions heating up, the corporations are still investing in the technology. However, it seems some work is still needed on the content side of things.  The agreement between Sony and Viacom to stream cable channels on mobile devices in 2014 may be an extremely important step toward providing the much-needed content that these Pico projectors need.  

The India growth factor

According to a 6Wresearch report, India Pico projector market shipments value reached over $1.8 million in CY 2015. Xelectron and Portronics together captured around 62 per cent share of the market even though more than 7 vendors shipped projectors in India. Pico projectors featuring resolution of 320X240 accounted for major share of the market. Other major players in the India Pico projector Market are Asus, Vox, Zync and Acer.

According to Anuj Mehrotra, Senior Research Analyst, 6Wresearch-India Electronics Division,“Growing need for portable projectors, decreasing TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) and rising need across application segments such as education, media & entertainment, Corporate and Healthcare have increased the awareness of PICO Projectors in the country. Additionally, introduction of advanced features such as 3D technology and in-built Wi-Fi capability have further assisted the market attentiveness.”

According to Pulkit Shrivastava, Research Analyst, 6Wresearch-India Electronics Division, “Over the recent quarters, India Pico projector Market has witnessed entry of several new players with advanced technological capabilities. For instance, Canon, one of the key players in India Projector Market has launched RAYO series of Pico projectors featuring superior image resolution and Wi-Fi capability to target utmost share in this niche market.”

While it seems to many that Pico projectors were becoming a faded dream, the industry on the whole is poised for a rebirth. As a tech enthusiast notes in his blog, much like the mythological Phoenix rising from the ashes, Pico projectors will once again soar to new heights, thanks to the digital explosion that is giving a new meaning to many such technologies of the bygone era.

Interesting A-SU page

Today was very interesting. Joe has been connecting dots, and it appears that Qualper is actually part of Haier (ASU has been showing up on the Qualper website, using the logo found here.)

A-SU is a virtual certainty to be a part of HAIER; there is supporting evidence, but not an undeniable connection yet. A-SU was connected at the Haier Booth at CES.

How this is all going to shake out remains to be seen, but there are companies out there who are serious about incorporating PicoP.



Found Here

The Next big thing in Phones May not be a Phone

This is one of the best dot-connecting articles I've read yet. You can see MicroVision at the center of all of this... if the phone function is divided among many devices, what the devices need is an easy to install screen -- a big screen with a small form factor.

Think Haier, ASU, Cicret... etc.


We're all over the future.


More at the source. 

Reuters

Industry experts believe innovation in smartphones is giving way to phone functions popping up as software or services in all manner of new devices from cars to fridges to watches and jewellery rather than remaining with handheld devices.

And analysts and product designers said fresh breakthroughs are running up against the practical limits of what's possible in current smartphone hardware in terms of screen size, battery life and network capacity.

"Everything in the phone industry now is incremental: slightly faster, slightly bigger, slightly more storage or better resolution," said Christian Lindholm, inventor of the easy text-messaging keyboards in old Nokia phones that made them the best-selling mobile devices of all time.

The financial stakes are high as the futures of Apple, Google, and Microsoft, the world's three biggest listed companies at the end of last year, may now turn on who gets the jump on making handsets redundant.

Many firms are experimenting with new ways to help consumers interact with the wider world through touch, sight and sound.

These include voice-activated personal assistant devices dangling from "smart jewellery" necklaces with tiny embedded microphones or tiny earpieces that get things done for us based on our verbal commands.

The world's biggest tech companies have made real progress in this arena with Google Now, Apple Siri, Microsoft Cortana and Amazon.com's Alexa now able to read texts or emails for users, answer practical questions, control phone features, handle basic communications or read a map.

 Lindholm now runs KoruLab, developers of compact, ultra-efficient software for running wearable devices. He sees smartphone functions splitting into two camps - big-screen devices for rich entertainment and compact wearables for more transactional activities like keeping up with one’s calendar, health or fitness monitoring or paying for goods or services.



Whatever platform might displace the handheld phone also will need to resolve nagging questions about battery life, which have become more pressing as consumers watch more and more video.

The next big device also needs more flexible screens capable of working in different lighting conditions. That’s a decades-old dream of gadget enthusiasts that has eluded recognized market leaders Samsung and LG of Korea, which have struggled for years to mass-produce flexible screens at anything close to mass-market prices.

ASU Smart Watch -- Coming THIS month.

The ASU projector is almost certainly MicroVision.

This was a company & Product that I looked for repeatedly at CES. (Consumer Electronics Show). ASU showed the same booth location as Haier (Where I got a glimpse of the R2D2 Robot that is confirmed to use PicoP.)

I expect more news on this soon, as the release date is claimed to be THIS month in China and in June in the US.

ASU Website - Specs



Gizmodo

More at the source.

Take this new smartwatch that lets you watch movies or your latest video communique from MI6, projected onto a nearby wall. It’s called the ASU Cast One. First, it’s a smartwatch running a version of Android Lollipop. Second, it’s a freakin’ movie projector. What?! The company says it projects up to six-and-a-half feet in distance and the screen expands to 60 inches. ASU says it rivals home theater projectors with its 720P resolution

The watch should launch in China in March and June in the US for $300. Just don’t shine your latest Netflix favorite in anybody’s eye.

Cicret Bracelet -- into production

I will admit that I am still dubious of this concept - at least how it has been shown. Cicret has been featured here before -- and there was enough to point to MicroVision to create almost certainty that it's MicroVision inside. (Here is the dot-connecting about the prototype)

What is additionally interesting is the wearable project from A-su (I didn't make up the name.) 

"We have successfully :
- managed a motion sensing system on the forearm to work
- distorted the picture from the pico projector
- put these two key features all together and sourced all the miniatures needed

All these items are now on the market and can be purchased. We started discussions and partnership with the biggest manufacturers in the world.

Most of all, we are working with two renowned US design offices. They have well knowledge and skills to produce a working sample of the Bracelet. Thanks to this collaboration, we now have 2 quotes with the timeline, dates of production and detailed costs in order to create the first working samples. We will be able to launch the presales and start the delivery of the Cicret Bracelet."

They're working with us.

Two ex-Apple employees are in our executive team. Thanks to their skills and expertise they are of great help in getting the best components like the pico projector and solve all industrial issues.

JOE O’SULLIVAN

Managing Partner & Business Development

30 years + Global Operations, Mfg. and Procurement experience. Served as a C Level executive at Apple, InFocus, and most recently, Intelligent Energy. Has built and led product introduction and supply chain teams in Europe, USA and Asia. (Also worked for MVIS – pico projector industry).