Nine Mobile TV Firms to Watch

Nine Mobile TV Firms to Watch

As TV becomes more pervasive on mobile handsets, demand is expected to mushroom for personal projector devices. The idea is similar to virtual keyboards: Eyeglasses fitted with tiny projectors or a separate tabletop pico-projector device, smaller than a mobile phone, could be used to give viewers a larger virtual display. Microvision, which already makes wearable displays for industrial and military use, is positioning itself to move into the consumer space by partnering with other equipment manufacturers.

Microvision uses a single-mirror MEMs chip and has a patented approach similar to the “flying spot” approach used in conventional TVs, but without high-voltage electronics or a vacuum tube. Instead, a single vibrating mirror directs colored pixels either toward the eye (for video eyewear) or to a viewing surface (for a micro projector). To the user, the eyewear looks like a full-size laptop display, only better, and uses only milliwatts instead of the watts used by laptops, according to an October 2005 Gilder Technology Report. MicroOptical and iCuiti, two U.S. companies, already sell video eyewear, but the Gilder report says Microvision’s systems “beat the competition in every category, cost, quality, compactness, power-efficiency, and versatility.”

Given the company’s unique optical technologies and its work on both tabletop personal pico projectors and video eyewear, Ken Blakeslee, a London-based wireless investment advisor, says he thinks Microvision is well positioned to compete for mass-market consumer business. The challenge for Microvision is to overcome its short-term financial difficulties that result largely from its investment in R&D, and current dependence on niche markets.

Thanks to Danny Golan.