I can't believe it's been three years since I started this blog. When I started writing this, I just wanted a place to collect my thoughts about Microvision, the company's potential, and what I thought was possible. I also wanted to catalog stories and articles that helped to provide signposts along the way -- showing the daily progress establishing the infrastructure that I believe will enable Microvision displays to become truly ubiquitous looking out a few years.
Everything from GPS, image-recognition, ubiquitous camera phones, WiMAX, accelerometers, grid computing, location-based services, and on and on. There's quite a lot of data to sift through -- but from where I sit, it all points to the same affirming conclusion that this is the right idea.
Three years and 1,030 posts later, here we are. I'm grateful to all the readers who've been with the blog from the start and the new readers who come on board each day. Thanks for your participation. The next three years should be truly extraordinary.
THANK YOU for your great work Ben,
ReplyDeletei have been visiting your blog for about 2 years.. always a delight to be here....
can't wait for more exciting development on the business front...
are you aware of the BMW hud? and their nomad-like goggle?
Frank
Happy Birhtday to the Microvision BLOG
ReplyDeleteYou Rock my Vision
Thank you for your dedication and sharing.
I ditto Sturocks! I have enjoyed all the visions you share, and even the non-Microvisions...;-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for all you do to keep us informed....and
HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY to the BLOG!!!
(and like a child, Microvision has come a long way in 3 yrs...;-)
Thanks Ben,
ReplyDeleteIt is real enjoyable to read your posts these days with mvis making great strides and the future looking so bright. But I found it a very comforting and reasurring place when most were doubting the future of mvis. You are a true visionary Ben.
Happy Birthday mvis Blog!
Ben, How do you find your password if you have forgotten it? I am having trouble posting even as anonyous. Help please.
ReplyDeleteHillerby55
Since it worked this time, I have a question for you. Is the color eyewear using lasers (IPM) or LEDs?? I wonder what happened to the LED projection system MVIS applaid for patent protection for in 05??
ReplyDeleteThanks..
Hillerby55
Color Eyewear is using the IPM (lasers).
ReplyDeleteWe have a portfolio of patents and technologies including LED-based display systems, but our focus is on bringing IPM-based products to market.
Hi Ben,
ReplyDeleteEdlee wrote and posted a copy of the last CC on investor village. That was really cool of him! Here's the link if you are interested...
http://www.investorvillage.com/smbd.asp?mb=1549&mn=342&pt=msg&mid=1825396
Microvision
ReplyDelete22 March 2007
Would you pay an extra hundred dollars for a cell phone with an embedded projector? Alexander Tokman is betting that about 3%–5% percent of those who purchase “feature rich” phones will jump at the chance, meaning unit sales of mobile phones containing his PicoP microprojector could reach 24m–40m annually based on last year’s figures. The feisty CEO of Microvision also hopes to see PicoP in other handset devices such MP3 and DVD players and to sell it as a standalone accessory the size of an iPod. Imagine carrying in your pocket a projector that can expand your cell phone’s 2” screen into a 30” or 100” screen of bright, crisp images (even when projected onto distorted surfaces) to watch mobile television and video or to browse the internet.
Tokman imagines millions of consumers doing just that before the end of next year. But first he has to overcome the manufacturing hurdles still blocking his tiny display engine. (We described these in detail in the January GTR along with Microvision’s world-beating display technology.) Tokman exudes Lombardi-like confidence that he’s about to execute a game-winning touchdown. His offense includes the likes of Corning, Novalux, and Osram working feverishly on green lasers specifically for PicoP, two major high-volume manufacturing partners gearing up for the big ramp, and 75 in-house engineers (over half of his total staff).
During the consumer electronics show in January, Tokman met privately with 31 manufacturers and expects to reach developments agreements with several this year. These same manufacturers tell Tokman that he has virtually no competition based on size, cost, power, and image brightness and contrast. As the PicoP ascends rapidly into handsets throughout 2009, Tokman expects his technology to begin appearing in luxury cars as reprogrammable, instrument-cluster displays with the added benefit for manufacturers of automobile modules that he eliminates the expensive manual process required to install the inferior display systems offered by his competitors.
Over the past year Tokman cut Microvision’s headcount by almost a quarter while increasing its engineering force by a third. Thanks to this aggressive streamlining and refocusing on the most promising consumer applications, he has enough cash to keep his company running for about 10 months. But that’s still over half a year before Tokman expects to begin reaping his first serious revenue, and thus he will be forced back to the capital markets this year.
However, even if he offers his entire $35m shelf (at the recent stock price of $3.36 that would dilute shares outstanding by 24% to 54m), Microvision’s resulting market cap of $181m is still dirt cheap if Tokman wins his Super Bowl of tens of millions of unit sales.
-Charlie Burger, GTR