1Q06 Quarterly Report

MVIS released their quarterly report for 1Q06 today: FORM 10-Q.

Here's a (brief) excerpt:

Overview

Microvision, Inc. ("Microvision" or the "Company") designs and markets scanned beam display and image capture products. The Company is developing a modular integrated photonics module that is expected to be a common integrated subsystem in future display products. The integrated photonics module consists of a MEMS scanner, electronics to drive the MEMS scanner, a light source module, and electronics to drive the video input and output, system controller and buffer memory component. The Company believes that the modular integrated photonics module could be readily modified to meet OEM product requirements for different display product configurations. These product configurations may require modification of the integrated photonics module for a specific OEM product. The Automotive Head-Up Display, Pico Projector and Color Eyeware are potential products the Company is planning to develop based on the integrated photonics module.

Automotive Head-Up Display

Microvision continues to improve upon its prototype head-up displays for automotive manufacturers and Tier 1 suppliers to automotive companies. These prototypes demonstrate that scanned beam display technology can be used in a head-up display that projects a day-light or night-time readable image onto the windscreen of an automobile to provide the vehicle operator with a variety of information related to the car's operation. The Company believes that its technology provides three distinct advantages over competing technologies for head- up display applications:

Form Factor - The Microvision prototype display is less than half the size of current competitive offerings. Total package size is a primary consideration in the design of an instrument panel for an automobile.
Contrast Ratio - The Microvision prototype has a contrast ratio an order of magnitude higher than current competitive offerings. The high contrast ratio allows the driver to see the display in bright daylight and see through the display at night.
Installation Cost - The Microvision prototype can be electronically optimized to the unique curvature of a particular automobile's windshield. The current competitive offerings must be manually adjusted during installation to match the varying curvature tolerances of different windshields.

Microvision's goal is to enter into an agreement with at least one Tier 1 supplier to develop and manufacture a head -up display during 2006. The Tier 1 supplier would work with Microvision and the automobile manufacturers to integrate Microvision's head-up display into an automotive instrument panel.

The automotive head up display market is highly competitive. The current competitive products are based on liquid crystal display or vacuum fluorescent display technology which is more mature than the scanned beam display technology. The Company's competitors in the head up display market have substantially greater financial, technical and other resources than Microvision and may develop further improvements that could reduce or eliminate the anticipated advantages of Microvision's proposed products.

Pico Projector

During 2005, the Company developed a prototype micro projector. The Company believes that the target of this development is a commercial hand held device or an embedded solution that can project full color images from a portable media source or mobile computer onto a surface chosen by the user. Several large consumer electronics companies are developing and conducting consumer trials of micro projectors based on very small display panel technologies. In January 2006, the Company demonstrated its prototype "pico projector" at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The Company's goal is to enter into an agreement that would result in development, manufacture and distribution of a pico projector based on the Company's planned integrated photonic module. The Company believes its scanned beam display technology will provide a smaller form factor than small projectors based on competing display technologies.

The consumer display market is highly competitive. The Company believes that the pico projector will compete with other projection display technologies as well as traditional flat panel displays. The Company's competitors in the consumer display market have substantially greater financial, technical and other resources than Microvision and may develop further improvements of screen display technology that could reduce or eliminate the anticipated advantages of Microvision's proposed products.

Full Color Eyewear

The Company believes that the integrated photonic module it is developing can be customized to enable displays that more closely resemble eyewear than other technologies allow. The Company is evaluating the market and technical risk associated with three distinct color eyewear solutions.

* Highly mobile "Glance-able" display: In this configuration, the user could glance down occasionally at a worn display. This device would be suitable for light business use such as mobile web surfing and reading e-mail. The Company believes that high resolution, high contrast, and small package size could be important differentiators between its scanned beam display solution and competing solutions.
* Look-around or see-through display: In this configuration, the user could view a full screen display in see- through or occluded mode. This configuration would be suitable for viewing longer pieces of streaming video for entertainment or business applications.
* Fully occluded immersive display: In this configuration, the user could view a very wide screen high resolution video stream. This configuration would be suitable for interactive gaming applications and simulators.

In any of these configurations, the Company believes that high resolution, high brightness, small package size, and lower cost could be important differentiators between its scanned beam display solution and competing solutions. The Company plans to evaluate potential designs for one or more of these potential solutions during 2006.

The consumer display market is highly competitive. The Company believes that any color eye wear product will compete primarily with LCD and OLED based solutions. The Company's competitors in the consumer display market have substantially greater financial, technical and other resources than Microvision and may develop further improvements of screen display technology that could reduce or eliminate the anticipated advantages of Microvision's proposed products.

Nomad

The Nomad Expert Technician System, ("Nomad") is a hands free wearable computer with a head-worn display that enables technicians and other mobile workers to overlay relevant information on their task thereby reducing task time. Microvision is working closely with transportation and manufacturing companies to develop the Nomad for truck and automotive maintenance applications. The Nomad has not gained the commercial acceptance the Company had planned when the Nomad was introduced. The Company has reduced its cost in manufacturing overhead, sales and marketing relating to Nomad, until it develops a go to market strategy that will be more successful. The Company is working with a small number of potential customers to define business cases for the Nomad. Defining the business case consists of studying the potential user's work environment, identifying operations that could be performed more economically using Nomad, conducting trials to demonstrate the cost savings, getting user feedback, making improvements to the Nomad, and then developing sales strategy and tools to demonstrate the advantage of the proven benefit. The Company expects it will require at least the first half of 2006 to define business cases for Nomad.

The Nomad competes with other products that bring information to the point of task, including laptop and notebook computers, tablet computers, and personal digital assistants. These other devices must be held, wrist mounted, or placed on a stationary object and the user must look away from the task to get information. In contrast, the Nomad is head-worn (i.e. hands free) and provides images to the user's eye with no screen to block the viewer's field of vision. Other companies are marketing head-worn displays, but the displays are generally occluded and typically provide a fraction of the full-page view provided by the Nomad. Microvision believes that Nomad provides higher brightness and higher contrast than competing devices and provides true "see through" capability. Microvision also believes that the manufacturing cost in high volume of Nomad and potential future displays using its scanned beam display technology could be less than that of competing technologies, due principally to the lower cost of scanned beam display components and lower capital investment to build high volume manufacturing capacity compared to other competing technologies.

The following is a description of our current and prospective imaging products.

Flic

Microvision sells the Flic laser bar code scanner, a hand held laser bar code scanner and the Flic Cordless Scanner, a Bluetooth version of the Flic Scanner. Flic Scanners feature a proprietary design that provides for lower power consumption and total operating cost than many other bar code scanners currently available. Microvision expects the sales volume for Flic Scanner will grow as more companies release products incorporating the Flic.

The bar code scanning industry is highly competitive. Flic Scanners compete with existing laser wand and CCD imager scanners produced by established bar code scanner companies. Flic Scanners compete on the basis of price, form factor, and performance. The bar code industry is dominated by Symbol Technologies, which sells products that directly compete with the Flic and Flic Cordless products.

Image Capture

Microvision is applying its scanned beam and other proprietary technology to develop products that capture images and other information. Such products include bar code readers and miniature high-resolution "laser cameras". In December 2004, Microvision entered into an agreement with Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc. a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson to integrate Microvision's scanned beam technology into certain medical products for human medical applications. Under the agreement, Microvision is developing prototype units that will be used in product evaluation.

Microvision believes that certain components of the scanned beam technology can also be used to develop two-dimensional bar code readers as well as high resolution laser cameras that have cost and performance advantages over existing imaging technologies for certain applications.