More than one request has been made for a price target calculator that includes smart speakers. (or for specifically smart speakers.) This would be primarily to see the market potential of MicroVision's Interactive display. There aren't many years of data to establish any kind of trend of only smart speakers, which makes this kind of thing problematic.
It's also too limiting. Many of the devices in the "Internet of things" are going to be excellent places for interactive displays: Like the smart thermostat as an example. What used to be a coil of metal with a mercury switch now has the brains of a high-end 1990's PC -- and when you can crunch that much data, it begs for a display. When you have that much intelligence on a thermostat, you can connect it to your calendar, program your days off, or set up profiles for events. Some way of programming this remotely may be common, but a way to adjust it at the source would be very useful, and desirable. How big is the internet of things going to get? It's going to get probably gigantic, and where it goes is anyone's guess. There are a lot of strange connected devices, and nearly anything that is connected might be wanting for a screen & controller. Easier to design and manufacture than adding buttons, and complex button patterns. (Short list from the linked article: Toothbrush, flip-flops, luggage, camera for dogs, salt shaker, umbrellas, trash cans, mirror, condom(yes, sorry), toaster, liquor decanter, wine bottle, fork, etc.
Ikea is going to be launching smart blinds -- I think smart blinds are going to be very popular soon, because they could help regulate the temperature in a home, save energy, and make a place more livable. If we take Gartner's numbers and assume that we're going to add 12 Billion smart devices in the next year.... and we get 1% adoption of smart displays in those 12 billion devices -- that could be 120 million interactive laser displays in use.
If half of them are "smart speakers" and adoption is stronger than 1% of those, the number could be much higher. Interesting new things could appear from nowhere -- remember the smart speaker, is a very new product category, and all of a sudden everyone seems to be competing in the space.
Big and getting bigger -- there are already more connected things than people in the world. Analyst Gartner calculates that around 8.4 billion IoT devices were in use in 2017, up 31 percent from 2016, and this will likely reach 20.4 billion by 2020. Total spending on IoT endpoints and services will reach almost $2tn in 2017, with two-thirds of those devices found in China, North America and Western Europe, said Gartner.
Out of that 8.4 billion devices, more than half will be consumer products like smart TVs and smart speakers. The most-used enterprise IoT devices will be smart electric meters and commercial security cameras, according to Gartner.
As things heat up in the space there will be some jockeying around to see which interface becomes the standard.
Eventually, if it plays out like other fields, there will become a dominant standard and then an "only standard." (Like HD DVD vs. blu ray, or Betamax vs VHS)
Something is likely to win, and some force like this from retailers may hasten the process.
Walmart is asking companies that want to sell smart home products to make sure those products work with Google Home. The retailer has instructed potential suppliers to ensure that their products support Google Home, and if they also support Amazon Alexa, that they make such certification visible on the side or back of their packaging.
While several people responsible for selling smart home products confirmed they had received those instructions from Walmart, two others also said that Walmart suggested that it would prefer if providers didn’t host their services on Amazon Web Services, and that the ideal smart home products shouldn’t require a hub. None of the half-dozen companies I spoke to about this topic would agree to go on the record.
From a consumer point of view, Walmart’s push toward Google Home doesn’t bother me. Amazon’s Alexa is currently the team to beat when it comes to building a better smart home, and I’d like to see companies respond to that challenge. Plus, it doesn’t sound like Walmart is penalizing companies that work with Amazon, which would be a step too far.
Tai sees Apple, Sharp's biggest client, as something of a role model. The U.S. technology giant generates massive profits by specializing in product design and development while outsourcing production to contractors like Foxconn. .....
In the "internet of things," Sharp will work to incorporate artificial intelligence and voice command features in home electronics to create new services that generate user fees.
MicroVision is Naming Names. MVIS Presentation This is nearly as good in my mind as an out and out announcement.(IMHO)
Amazon
Google
Facebook
Did NOT mention who is the BB partner (or what it is.... or did they?)
Did NOT mention who is the display only partner (or did they?) Love this slide:
Links to two specific videos... Check out the listing at WPG Holdings.... (BELOW)
Facebook F8 Announcement "Facebook Announces
Spaces, VR Hangout App,
For Oculus Rift F8
Conference" I think very interesting the missing "Portal Speaker." *********** WPG Holdings Projection Smart Speaker Solution. (WPG Holdings is a distributor if you haven't already been following along. MicroVision is in very good company there.) This engine, (the PSE-0403st) is a version of the INTERACTIVE engine -- not the Display only version. (See MicroVision Displayground for write up.)
UBI Interactive Apple's Tim Cook "“HomePod is widely recognized for having the best sound quality for its size and class,” Cook says, skirting concerns over HomePod sales. “We’re looking forward to adding new features to HomePod.” (The Verge -- Thx R)
Most smart speakers use intelligent voice assistant as the main method of human-machine interaction. However, at present, the intelligent voice assistant is still in infancy. The voice recognition development direction of the voice assistant is basically based on instructions. Basically, the understanding of simple and clear instructions will not go wrong, but when it comes to daily chat, their weaknesses are fully exposed. For the complex human language and emotions, the understanding of the machine is still quite low. The matter of letting the machine understand humans is just beginning to take off.
Therefore, in order to improve the user experience, smart speakers need to add other interactive methods. Microvision and UBI launched the laser projection touch solution to solve this problem. Microvision's Thunderbird laser projection module features small size, low power consumption, and no focusing, which fully meets the needs of smart speaker products. UBI's Camera and infrared laser modules can solve the user's need for interaction.
MicroVision , the founder of PicoP® laser scanning technology, developed a series of ultra-micro laser scanning projection solutions using laser beam scanning methods. MicroVision's advanced display solutions can adapt to a wide range of applications and unique styling designs. The solution has the characteristics of small size, low power consumption, no focusing, large viewing angle, high contrast, and high chroma, which can bring new experiences and applications to the field of mobile devices.
1, support WiFi connection router 2, support laser projection and multi-touch 3, support for voice recognition 4, support for online music, video, interactive games
Project features
1, built-in Android OS 2, the projection size can be adjusted with the height 3, the output image resolution 1080 * 720 4, free focus, you can in various shapes of the background surface imaging 5, HDMI and MIPI interface, supports a variety of smart speaker program .
Big Pictures on this post --- to give the big picture. This is a place that should be watched closely.
Curious to see what we're listed with... How recent things are, how many questions are asked, and how "Hot" the it is.
This is a screen picture -- Morning PST of 2/3/18, because it's likely to change and there will probably be a lot of change on this site. wpgdadago.com (IOT)
You can see what kind of questions are being asked.... "Mass production? How to install in a cell phone, how to upgrade? resolution? Can we change to USB-C? Life Expectancy?
This is showing the benefit of having a deal with a large distributor. This isn't taking up the company's time.
When sorted on "The Hottest" the "Heat" indicator on the left sorts in order... (it's not the temperature of the device in operation!)
10th Hottest of their devices. (Not going to do another screen capture for this one.) Notice that there are 582 Devices in this list.
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Portable laser projection scheme based on Microvision PSE-0403-101 light machine
This solution is a portable laser projection solution based on the Microvision laser projection module. Compared to traditional DLP and LCOS technologies, Microvision's unique LBS technology is used for ultra-low power consumption, ultra-small size, high contrast, The natural advantage.
At present, people are more and more demanding for outdoor entertainment and mobile office. Due to its characteristics, the traditional projection technology is difficult to be small in size and hard to meet the requirements of portable devices. However, the Microvision laser projection module Its ultra-low power consumption, does not require external fan cooling, and the module size is very small province, so that you can ensure that the finished product size can be very portable size; and, Microvision laser projection technology focus-free, very use In terms of the projection screen can be anytime, anywhere; In addition Microvision's color contrast is better than the traditional projection, can provide a good user experience."
If you can find a good up and coming technology to invest in, you can end up holding stock in a company that will pay you enormous returns. Think Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia and Google --companies that went from the bleeding edge of technology to the leading edge.
Notable investor Ronald Wayne, is an excellent example of a "smart investor" who missed the gains possible in holding a "bleeding edge company." In 1976 he was one of the first investors in Apple computer company. He was a 10% stakeholder and sold his stake for $800. He did double his money in 12 days, but had he held onto his investment it would be worth 90 Billion today. Ronald Wayne
Now, not all bleeding edge companies make it to the leading edge. However, if you can find a company that is transitioning from the bleeding edge to the leading edge, you can avoid a lot of the risk the early investors took, and get most of the gains. The sweet spot to find one of these companies is when it's making the transition. Of course to find the right company now, you'd look to something that was going to be a key component of an up and coming new technology.
Mobile technologyis still in its infancy -- find the next must-have feature, and you're golden.
Personal assistants, like the Amazon Echo or the Google Home are gaining popularity, and will likely become more and more common, and more widely available everywhere -- especially if video features can be conveniently added to them.
The Internet of Things is talked about everywhere, more and more powerful computers are being put in everyday items. If you're old enough to remember the 1990's a powerful personal computer of the 1990's was required to play the game "DOOM" -- but that computing horsepower is now available in a thermostat. [Doom on a Thermostat] The thing about that computing horsepower is that people need a good way to interact with it, that will be a key component.
Augmented Reality, the ability to enhance the world you see with computer generated information, is so new most people have seen little of it except perhaps an experience with Pokemon Go. They're getting great results with this technology in industry, greatly increasing productivity-- and it's a wild fantasy of gamers. It will be bigger than Virtual Reality -- it brings people together, or it can. Virtual reality isolates them.
Self Driving Cars and Automation: I know self-driving cars are controversial -- they're not going to happen all at once though. They're going to happen a little at a time. More and more sensors will appear, the ability to automate some functions of the car, and the ability of the car to process the sensors' information and intervene when necessary is going to increase. No one is complaining about cars automatically NOT hitting pedestrians, or parking themselves, or alerting us when there's another car in our blind spot. This happens through primarily sensors that can detect and identify other objects.
If you want to do a good job investing in future technology, you could find a good company in each space -- but finding a good company that is publicly traded in each specific space could be tedious. You could invest in ST Microelectronics, absolutely nothing wrong with them, or Intel, or Google. However I think there's a way to invest in a company that has much greater growth potential, and it's poised to provide key components in ALL of those areas.
I'll keep this as brief and complete as possible, you can explore the rest of the blog.... Pico Projection -- Mobile Phone Technology Why? Because of the picture below. Want to share your pictures? Would you rather share it with the picture on the phone below (at the bottom, slightly to the right of the center of the picture is my phone.) It's showing the same image as the PicoP powered projected large image, everyone can see it at once. (yes the crab were delicious.)
When I ask people "so, of the smart phones made in the world, how many of them do you think will eventually get a projector like this?" The most common answer is "all of them." I have a link to a price calculator below, and you can see the difference between 10% and "all of them." Would you like a six foot screen in your Phone? This phone is now available in China, and Romania, and soon will be in Brazil, and India. (45%+ of the worldwide smartphone market.)
Personal Assistants & Internet of things: Put a sensor in that projector and turn it into a touch screen. This projector product should be available for purchase in the second half of 2018. It can be included in personal assistants, appliances, and anywhere else a touch screen would be desirable.
Below is another prototype that uses MicroVision's technology. How would you like it if your Amazon Echo or your Google Home speaker could do this?
Augmented Reality: This is an area that is just getting started. Most people are unaware this is possible, but it's probably going to be huge.
Pokemon' Go was an early augmented reality game, and Microsoft is having a lot of early success with its Hololens
MicroVision is working on Augmented Reality, displays; I do not know with who, and haven't seen a recent example. I have seen an old augmented reality display from MicroVision however, and it was much more impressive to me than other displays that were being shown at the time.
In 2015 I attended the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. I tried every "augmented reality" item I could find, and none of them got even close to the contrast, and field of view that MicroVision's NOMAD system. (listen to what they say about the NOMAD display's business model below. That business model is becoming a reality. [Augmented Reality Increasing Productivity]
At that time I was told that what they have now is much better. I wish I could say I have seen it in person, but I haven't.
Are lasers (MicroVision's realm) going to be used? Nvidia thinks so, and they think that EVERYONE will be using augmented reality. (NVidia at SIGGRAF 2017) All good, but for our purposes, be sure to observe from 4:25-5:45! Below is a video of how Microsoft Imagines Augmented Reality.
And Augmented Reality Games, below. I know these samples are from Microsoft, but that doesn't mean that they will be the only player, but for displays, I believe MicroVision will be key.
Scanning LiDAR A huge problem with most automated things that move is that you don't want them to crash into things. If it's a moving arm, a robot, a truck, car, forklift, or gigantic digging machine. Scanning LiDAR is where it's at for those sensors. MicroVision's product is much smaller than competition, (and shrunk again by a factor of eight!) and they are in the mid-range sweet-spot of importance. Knowing where things are at a distance and close up is good, but most of the important decisions are made in the mid range. From Semiengineering.com "Kevin Watson, senior director of product engineering at Redmond, Wash.-based MicroVision, a publicly held company, disagrees. “I don’t think that’s going to go anywhere,” he said of flash LiDAR. “For many years, the Holy Grail of LiDAR sensors we thought to be a MEMS mirror-based laser scanner, because they’re super-small, relatively inexpensive to manufacture in great quantity, and very reliable. They’re small enough to hide several around an automobile.”
Watson calls LiDAR “the most important sensor” in automotive electronics. “Vision systems are great, but they’re a totally passive system. LiDAR is active.”
Mr Watson left Velodyne to work on the Holy Grail of LiDAR sensors at MicroVision.
It can also do 3D mapping for things like autonomous cars, robots, making movies, or creating content for Augmented reality. (And I'm sure more.
SONY Sony has several products with MicroVision's PicoP inside, The relationship with Sony seems to have been problematic, but Sony is still in a position to produce products with MicroVision's technology inside. Products included: celluon PicoPro, and the Sony MPCL1 Laser Pico Projector, A cellphone with an embedded laser projector the Qualper phone has been shown but apparently not released: Qualper Phone.
So how good is MicroVision's Intellectual Property?[ PatentVue ]
"Microvision Inc. made our list as the largest US patent holder in this space, owning 289 US patents primarily related to hardware components for augmented reality systems, with a focus on miniaturized MEMS and PICO level systems. Another smaller company is this space with significant patent protection is Kopin Corporation, with 206 relevant patents."
Microvision has been a company for the last 20 years that has been on the "bleeding edge" of technology. They have had to wait for some technologies (lasers) to catch up with them, and even had the lasers existed to do what they wanted to do ten years ago, the content landscape wasn't quite ready.
Laser technology improvements have reached a point where direct laser diodes are readily available an inexpensive enough for mass adoption. They even get REALLY small. (yes, below that's a three-color laser module next to the dime.)
Where could this go? Well, if I'm conservative and say the company profits $5 per projector unit, and it goes into 10% of the world's smartphones and everything else fails? Then this thing will be trading about 200 times what it is now. If it does better? Sky is the limit. Check the price target calculator below, and put in your own numbers.
The sweet spot is to catch a company when it transitions from the bleeding edge of technology to the leading edge -- and I am long this company. I have endured the bleeding edge pain -- but things are going to get interesting as products are going into production now.
There's more, check out these past posts, and dig around a lot. There's way more out there than is on this blog.
After a burst of interesting stuff in the last couple of weeks. I haven't been seeing a lot of stuff I can share.... The department of dot-connecting is working on some amazing things however. The utility of devices produced by Microvision's target markets is always something to pay attention to. Reports from Thyssenkrupp continue. Last week one of the representatives of STM I spoke to told me in some detail how the transition from prototype to mass production is accelerating very rapidly. When it used to be 18-24 months to get a product from prototype to mass production they are now able to pull that off in six months. (He did tell me though that to make a single batch of some MEMS that the fastest they can be produced is 60-120 days -- simply because of the chemical processes involved that can not be rushed. -- I take that to mean that it happens at the speed of chemistry, not at the speed of human will, and that new technology can't really rush it.) When industry is pulling on certain technologies and they're eager to purchase it and apply it -- the timelines can be moved forward to an as fast as possible timeline. (...and we all know that computer companies are willing to produce and sell things that will be obsolete in a few months because better technology follows it. They made ridiculous money doing that in the 1980's and 1990's and it would be kind of fun to be riding that kind of wave again.) Thyssenkrupp
Andreas Schierenbeck, CEO of thyssenkrupp Elevator, commented: “New realities demand new solutions and thyssenkrupp sees HoloLens as an enabler in transforming the customer experience for home solutions and helping to ensure a continued quality of life for ageing populations, regardless of their mobility restrictions.”
thyssenkrupp has already applied this new process in over 100 customer homes in Holland, Spain, and Germany with very positive results and client feedback, and will soon roll out the use of HoloLens in its home solutions throughout Germany.
“IoT and mixed reality technologies are critical success factors for companies that aim to digitally transform their businesses. With the integration of Microsoft HoloLens and home mobility solutions thyssenkrupp is the frontrunner in the industry and shows how to address the challenges of an aging society by using intelligent technologies,” says Sabine Bendiek, Area Vice President Microsoft Germany.
This may not relate directly to Microvision, but it will have a very significant effect on the landscape of smaller tech companies. Things are about to get really interesting, and the things to watch more numerous.
Gulf Times The initial investments will likely include $45bn from Saudi Arabia and $25bn from SoftBank, as well as $1bn each from Apple Inc, Qualcomm Inc and Oracle Corp, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. Abu Dhabi investor Mubadala Development Co may join the first round, though it could also wait until a later time, they said. The initial round is likely to exceed $80bn and the timing of the closing may still change, said one of the people. It’s not yet clear when the remainder of the planned financing would be raised. Son announced plans for the Vision Fund in October, vowing to become the biggest investor in the technology industry over the next decade. He has already been among the most acquisitive, buying Sprint Corp for $22bn and ARM Holdings plc for $32bn along with stakes in hundreds of startups. The new fund will give him cash to cut even larger deals as he aims to capitalise on emerging trends like artificial intelligence and the so-called Internet of Things. “When I first founded this company, all I could think about is how to stretch the finances until the end of the month,” Son said Wednesday after his company’s earnings announcement. “Recently, the span shifted to 10 and 30 years ahead. I’m now seriously thinking about how to make sure that SoftBank group can grow for the next 300 years.”
***
SoftBank may announce deals within days of the fund’s first closing, one of the people said. The company has had preliminary discussions to make an investment in WeWork Cos., a New York-based startup for sharing office space, said the people, cautioning a deal may not be finalised. WeWork, with more than 140 locations around the world, was most recently valued at $16bn. SoftBank has also agreed to invest $1bn into OneWeb Ltd, a startup based in Exploration Park, Florida that aims to provide Internet connectivity from satellites. Son said Wednesday that the deal would go into the new fund.
Masayoshi Son has been busy for a long time in tech, but really got some attention when going for ARM holdings this week. Worth digging around about him. It seems to me that if there ever were a guy who would enthusiastically jump into Microvision, it would be this guy. He's a risk-taker in risk-averse Japan & Risk averse big business. He's of Korean ancestry in Japan. This is quite significant in Japan - even though most outside of Japan don't realize it. He's not really on the inside in Japan -- but not really on the outside -- and the restraining parts of the Japanese culture aren't restraining him. (I'm sure I'll get a note correcting this if I've misstated any of this. DF?) He understands Japan and the "weird" in Japan. Check out the ad. What is here is a guy who knows capital. A guy who is willing to risk -- and sometimes lose - which is really important. If it's a sure thing, there isn't any risk, but precious little upside as well. We also have a guy who studies the future and gets it right. Microvision is a significant part of the future of portable computing, entertainment & the internet of things. Those industries have a huge problem - getting large displays from small devices -- and Microvision is the answer to that problem. From Financial Times
Critically, say analysts, Mr Son embraces risk with skin in the game: a 19.2 per cent stake in SoftBank that is both stick and carrot to his bravura dealmaking. By contrast, the rest of corporate Japan — increasingly led by a generation of salaryman chief executives who hold minuscule quantities of stock and have risen to their positions by avoiding risk wherever possible — does not do very much of that.
Some larger, cash-rich Japanese companies, following pressure from shareholders, have started to become more proactive in looking abroad for long-term growth and a higher return on equity. They logged a record ¥10tn of outbound M&A deals in 2015. Even so, it was an improvement rather than an outright transformation. Those outbound deals were fairly conservative, led by the insurance and banking sectors looking for large, bolt-on businesses in dependable, developed parts of the world. The scale of the deals — modest by global standards — demonstrated a reluctance on the part of acquirers fundamentally to reshape themselves.
While companies such as Intel Corp. design and manufacture chips, ARM is strictly a designer. It charges licensing fees and per-chip royalties to other companies that use its schematics. Customers such as Apple Inc., Qualcomm and Samsung Electronics Co. began flocking in the past decade to ARM-based chips because they drew less power than competing chips from the likes of Intel, which made high-performance but energy-guzzling processors.
"A fresh acquisition is not what the market wants from SoftBank," said Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Asset Management.
"It's Mr. Son's style to keep expanding, but isn't he stretching too much?"
Investors fret the purchase of ARM, Japan's largest ever outbound deal, may be too much for SoftBank, still in the throes of turning around U.S. carrier Sprint <S.N> and tackling a $112 billion debt pile.
Others take the longer view.
"There is little synergy with SoftBank's existing businesses, but it makes sense if we look at ARM's future potential," said Tomoaki Kawasaki, senior analyst at IwaiCosmo Securities Co.
"Mr. Son is prioritizing investment for the future over shoring up the balance sheet. It's very Mr. Son-like."
A self-made entrepreneur whom one investment banker described as thinking "in decades", Son, of Korean descent, has long been something of an outsider in corporate Japan.
He wears the somber suits of Japan's salarymen but is an outspoken sometimes outrageous voice, with a celebrity status and 2.5 million followers on Twitter.
Son said he sealed the deal in just two weeks with a handful of advisers. These include Jeffrey Sine, co-founder of niche U.S. merchant bank Raine, who has advised Son for years.
Japan’s favorite TV ad series features a family who sit around bickering and occasionally mentioning the merits of the tariffs offered by mobile network SoftBank.
So far, so ordinary. Mobile operators love to feature regular people and trumpet the joy of communication with bland phrases about being ‘better connected’ and having a ‘world that revolves around you’.
But in the Softbank commercials, the grown up Japanese daughter has a brother who is apparently an American black man. And their father is, well, a white dog.
No one in the ads ever remarks on the weirdness of this.
It’s all very droll, slightly weird and joyfully eccentric.
And wildly popular. Indeed, Japan’s CM Research Center, which conducts TV ad recall surveys says SoftBank’s ‘Otosan’ ads (Otosan is Japanese for father) have topped most of its polls for the last five years — and earned the firm’s ‘Brand of the Year’ prize every year from 2007 to 2011.
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Son loved to buy and sell, throwing money into 600 technology companies, including GeoCities, Ziff-Davis Publishing and the Comdex computer show. Some of these bets went disastrously wrong, such as Kingston Technologies, which lost Softbank $1 billion.
Others did better.
Ziff-Davis’s chief executive, Eric Hippeau, introduced Son to a struggling small company called Yahoo, which wanted $5 million to develop its search engine tech. Famously, Masayoshi Son offered $100 million. Yahoo founder Jerry Yang replied that they didn’t need that much. To which Son countered: “Everyone needs $100 million.”
Thus, Softbank owned more than one-third of Yahoo when it went public in April 1996.
And Masayoshi Son was similarly prescient about Alibaba, offering a big sum to its CEO Jack Ma when he hadn’t even asked for it. As a result, Softbank got a third of Alibaba – a stake worth $75bn on the day the Chinese giant IPOd last month.
SoftBank’s $20 million investment in Alibaba back in 2000 probably ranks as one of the greatest ever.
New technology recently launched by the Japanese electronics giant, and its current research and development, point to a future where physical handsets may be redundant.
"Miniaturised projectors displaying interactive phones or computers could be built into any object, from a necklace to a watch."
While Hirai did not reveal what Sony had in mind beyond the current range of devices, Sony unveiled a new initiative dubbed IoT BIZ.
It is focused on the Internet of Things, the buzz phrase for networked devices and objects - such as fridges - that automatically send and receive data.
The initial focus of the Sony division will be on healthcare and smart home solutions, using technology such as the image-recognition and voice-assistance capabilities of devices like the Agent.
The Xperia Agent is confirmed to have PicoP inside.
