Microvision Commences Shipments of Accessory Pico Projectors for Customer Evaluation

Microvision Commences Shipments of Accessory Pico Projectors for Customer Evaluation

Thursday September 18, 9:00 am ET

REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Microvision (NASDAQ:MVIS - News), the leader in light scanning technologies for display and imaging products, today announced that is has begun shipments of enhanced accessory projectors, enabled by its PicoP™ display engine, to world leading consumer electronics original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and telecommunications carriers for evaluation purposes, including end-user testing. The timing of these shipments is consistent with the guidance the company gave during its second quarter conference call and represents a significant milestone in the commercialization process.

Microvision President and CEO Alexander Tokman commented, “We are pleased to be providing the next generation prototypes in increased quantities to our partners to commence their evaluation and end-user testing. These units incorporate several important innovations and advancements including: new generation green lasers, an even thinner, smaller and brighter PicoP engine and several image quality enhancements. We are looking forward to receiving valuable feedback as we continue to move forward with our commercialization plans.”

The company expects OEM partners to use the enhanced units to conduct evaluations over the next several months to obtain broader user feedback in order to finalize the accessory pico projector product design. These enhanced units contain next generation green lasers that are built on the same platform expected to be used for commercial production in 2009, and a smaller PicoP display engine that is thinner and brighter than one used in the SHOW™ prototypes introduced in the first half of 2008.

Following these external evaluations, Microvision intends to incorporate user feedback into the final configurations of its PicoP accessory projector. Final configuration product prototypes powered by fully integrated ASIC electronics, which will be substantially smaller, thinner and require less power, would then be provided to global customers for expanded end-user studies and product reliability and acceptance testing. This phase is expected to begin in late fourth quarter 2008 and continue into the first quarter of 2009.

The company expects to receive customer orders following successful completion of product acceptance testing during the first quarter of 2009. Microvision plans to be in the position to begin shipments of the commercial accessory product to customers in the first half of 2009. The precise timing of a product introduction will be dependent on customer feedback and product launch windows as well as key component availability.

About PicoP

Microvision’s pico projector prototype is powered by its proprietary PicoP display engine and connects directly to laptops, mobile phones, portable media players, digital cameras and other mobile devices to project large WVGA (848 X 480 pixels), high-resolution images and video onto any surface. The projected display is always in focus and can range anywhere from 8 inches (20 cm) to 100 inches (2.5 m) in size depending upon the ambient lighting conditions. Whether projecting TV, digital photos, movies, presentation slides or content from internet browsing to social networking, PicoP enabled devices deliver outstanding viewing experiences to consumers.

About Microvision (www.microvision.com)

Microvision provides the PicoP display technology platform designed to enable next generation display and imaging products for pico projectors, vehicle displays, and wearable displays that interface to mobile devices. The company also manufactures and sells its bar code scanner product line which features the company’s proprietary MEMS technology.

Forward-Looking Statements Disclaimer

Certain statements contained in this release, including those relating to commercial production, timing of customer studies, timing and receipt of customer orders, future products and words such as “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” and “would,” are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the Company’s forward-looking statements include the following: availability and quantities of key components, our ability to raise additional capital when needed; our financial and technical resources relative to those of our competitors; our ability to keep up with rapid technological change; government regulation of our technologies; our ability to enforce our intellectual property rights and protect our proprietary technologies; the ability to obtain additional contract awards; the timing of commercial product launches and delays in product development; the ability to achieve key technical milestones in key products; dependence on third parties to develop, manufacture, sell and market our products; potential product liability claims and other risk factors identified from time to time in the Company’s SEC reports, including the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC. Except as expressly required by the federal securities laws, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in circumstances or any other reason.