Tech Convergence Will Spur Demand for New ADAS Technology

A projector for cell phones



A projector for cell phones

Forget that tiny screen. The PicoP turns your phone into a projector.By Michal Lev-Ram, Business 2.0 Magazine

October 16 2007: 12:36 PM EDT

(Business 2.0 Magazine) -- Many phones can play just about any video you want as long as you're willing to watch it on a 3-inch LCD. But a supplier of wearable displays for the U.S. Army wants to change that.

In July, Redmond-based Microvision (Charts) inked a deal with Motorola (Charts, Fortune 500) to develop a built-in projector for mobile devices. The result: the PicoP, a gadget about the size of a Thin Mint that can project a high-resolution, television-screen-size image on any surface - flat or curved - from your phone.

The plug-in version, for smartphones, will arrive at the end of [2008]. Phones with embedded PicoPs should be available by 2009.

"Teens will be able to project movies and pictures," says Microvision CEO Alexander Tokman. "Business users can give the ultimate elevator-pitch presentation with their phone."

25 million phones now have the technology to support a projector. By the end of 2008, that number will double to 50 million.

Comments

  1. Hmmm. How come the stock is trading as if MVIS is headed towards bankruptcy?

    What about the shareholders who have been faithful to the company all year, and are watching the share price tank? The last bit of news we've received is about insider sales?

    What I'm hearing is that Tokman is over-confident and doesn't feel the need to manage the stock.

    If something doesn't change, and quickly, MVIS share price will be back in the toilet, and anyone who was interested in owning the stock for future promise will move on to a company that shows at least a smidge of interest in the shareholders.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Now, Woodshedder, tell me how you really feel!

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  3. Ben, I'm very frustrated, as I'm sure many other investors are.

    Strange how Tokman felt free to publish numerous PRs while the warrants were still in play. Now, nothing. Odd, no?

    Tokman gives a blurb or two about the red laser to a magazine, yet will not publish a formal update from MVIS on the progress with the technology. That is ridiculous.

    Hell, I own more shares of MVIS than Tokman does. That also is ridiculous.

    You can see from my blog that I have supported (some might say pumped) MVIS for better than 9 months. If Tokman does not want to manage the share price, I understand. However, the share price is a proxy for investor sentiment. The price should be telling him what investors are thinking about MVIS.

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  4. All I can say is, stay tuned.

    I'm all in and I have been for several years.

    I feel great about where we're heading and I believe that we own a disruptive technology that can and will change the world.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm still holding, and staying tuned. I'm not all in, but 25% of my trading account is in, and that is as close as I'll get.

    Still discouraged and frustrated. Hopefully that will change soon.

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  6. Woodshedder,
    You might have more shares then AT but did you leave a very, very good job and put your life on hold? AT did just that. He has pulled off a miracle in the last almost two years. Can you put a price on that? Not to mention he brought top shelf executives from GE to do the same thing. The progress that has been made is priceless in my opinion, chill. If you were holding a Royal Flush would you broadcast it?

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  7. Len, I'm primarily a trader. 2 months is a long time for me to hold anything. The fact that I've been in MVIS for 10 months should speak clearly about my belief in the mgmt. and the future.

    And yes, I can put a price on pulling off a miracle, as you say. The price is $4.47. Currently, that is what this miracle is worth. I might add it is worth less now than 5 months ago.

    The market is reacting in a way that says AT will be lucky if he is holding a pair of 2s. I've seen enough stocks trade to know that often when stocks trade down when they should be trading up, that there is a reason. Usually retail nobodies like myself are not privy to these reasons. Usually the traders who move millions have better access to information. MVIS is getting sold, and has been getting sold hard, since the MOT announcement. My fear is that there is news out there, not in the public domain (yet) but know by some, which is causing the sell-off.

    I'm not asking for the cards to be shown. What would be nice would be if the news about the red laser tweaking (which was given to a reporter) was instead released in a PR to investors.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Woodshedder,

    I won't comment on the stock, but I will say this: my former company is Genentech (DNA).

    Here's the 2 year chart on DNA.
    http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=DNA&t=2y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=

    Working at Genentech was incredible. All we did was win FDA approvals for new medicines to meet significant unmet needs. The company continues to have several blockbuster successes, and although I haven't been there for a little while, I can tell you by any metric, the company has continued top-tier execution of their business and product development.

    However, the stock over that period doesn't reflect that.

    I joined MVIS about a year ago, and everything that's great about Genentech is reflected in the corporate culture here. There's a passion and energy among the employees here. We are driving really hard to bring exciting products to huge global markets. We've already got significant partnerships and cooperation with numerous global manufacturers and we believe we're well positioned to bring amazing Pico-projection, HUD and Eyewear products to market. And we have radical technologies that are smaller, thinner, higher resolution and have unique capabilities such as infinite focus that fixed-pixel competitors can't match.

    So, you know, a stock over 5 months, it is what it is. The opportunity and the journey for me (and others) will take its course over time. It's amazing to be a part of it.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ben--

    Let's not forget, DNA books real revenue and is the Godfather of biotech, while MVIS is a squirrel looking for a major OEM contract.

    As you know, I'm long, but disgusted already.

    I do not like to wait and feel stupid for not selling 500,000 share @$6, like some people I know.

    In all honesty, following CES, I'm done with this stock. I just do not like the way the company has handled the stock erosion.

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  10. Naturally, should the stock trade higher tomorrow, I might retract everything I just said.

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  11. Ben, don't mistake my ranting for an attack on you. I enjoy your blog and appreciate the time you put into it.

    Re: DNA vs. MVIS.

    While I understand your point about the chart, my point is how would DNA's chart look if they suddenly went on a news blackout, without explanation? What if since the news blackout, Merck, Pfizer, Gilead, and other competitors released significant news which reflected developments in similar drugs that DNA was working on before the news blackout?

    Also, RR definitely destroyed investor trust. I understand AT is trying to restore legitimacy and credibility. Obviously, should the PicoP be embedded and on the market in 2009, credibility will be restored. However, there is a long time between now and 2009. Managing investor sentiment until credibility is restored will be crucial. This is, after all, a penny stock, with many quarters of losses.

    My holdings should reflect that I believe in the technology you speak of, and I am glad to know that the climate at headquarters is exciting and productive. That being said, I still fell hung out to dry at this point.

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  12. Ben is long stock too. I'm sure he is frustrated, although he won't admit it.

    All in all, Tok is a great guy, who made a mistake by letting the market decide where to price MVIS, without company guidance.

    After all, this is still a very speculative story. The die hards need a bone.

    Give me my bone or I'll bite your arm off.

    Nah, just kidding.

    Seriously, give me my bone.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Ben-

    Any word on when and what the hold up is with the ROV?

    ReplyDelete
  14. My vote is to let the course run the way it should. In a race, the finish line (commercially accepted product) is the prize. You place your bet before the race. You hope your team wins. There is no hype in the middle of the race. In fact I dont care if my team (MVIS) doesnt have a bunch of pom poms (which fly seems to like for his feelings) I just care if they have the stamina and reserve to kick it in at the end and win the race.
    Broker A and Woodshedder should beat it if they dont have the stomach for the stock going down before the end of the game.
    In fact, Woodshedder and Broker A, should beat it because they have short term interest and are not interested in long term company success.
    I cant imaging how many times their mommies had to give them some candy just because they cried.
    Sorry, in this professional world, you dont get your way just because you cry.
    I would love to see MVIS stock go up after they sell.
    PSS. Please hold all press releases until after BROKER A sells.
    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  15. "2 months is a long time for me to hold anything."

    Then get used to disappointment. A high risk investor like you should be used to it by now. This technology is potentially disruptive, but nothing is on the market yet, so you can't expect the stock to just skyrocket. MV has to do what is right for the future of the company, not what is right for a stock vulture like yourself.

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  16. Anonymous, Ben's blog is not the place to debate risk, but let me give you a little teaser. You mention that I am a "high risk" investor. When you find time to relax the sarcasm and holier-than-thou attitude, you might try doing some backtesting. What you will find is that almost every strategy, whether it is a breakout, or moving average crossover, or longer-term trend following, has less risk and smaller draw downs than buy and hold. Not only that, your capital is rarely fully deployed. High risk is buying and holding, and I challenge you to find any legitimate research which shows buy and hold beating even the simplest swing-trading strategy. If you want to compare buy and hold to even an intermediate trend following strategy, your socks will be blown off. Come over to my blog and post your findings in the comments section. I look for the anonymous fellow who is too lame to actually use a handle.

    Finally, it is the hallmark of idiocy when one can not maintain a rational argument without resorting to ad hominem attacks.

    ReplyDelete
  17. NTES is a good example of a stock that took some blows over time but came thru. There were a lot of detractors, and negative chatter, and ups and downs, but that thing went from 32 cents to 80 dollars a share in a couple of years - in fact the tough years after the bubble broke. Nothing goes straight up, and there will be flat and down periods, but if the end result is much higher, then the plateaus are just part of the process.

    ReplyDelete
  18. woodcheddar and horse fly,
    beat it,
    get out of here.

    ReplyDelete
  19. "woodcheddar and horse fly,
    beat it,
    get out of here."


    While I totally understand your feelings do not think that Woodshedder and Broker A are the enemy. They are quite the opposite.The fact that they are doing exactly the opposite of what they normally do should tell you something. I have been following both and if you do some DD you will see that they have been a very valuable asset. They would not be invested if it was not a good investment, I can assure you that. Lets all relax and remember why we are invested in Microvision.

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  20. What is wrong with you people? I suppose you prefer to be MVIS martyrs, instead of bank rolling rib eye eaters.

    Look you, I've been long this stock for 1 1/2 years. In my world, that's being patient.

    My interest is your interest, at least I hope.

    Higher stock price. Higher stock price. Higher stock price.

    Wake up people. With your moribund attitudes, you'll be bouncing checks inside of two years.

    ReplyDelete
  21. woodshed, you clearly owned debate class. Fly and Shed are correct, and so is Ben, who made salient points with his chess-like DNA rebuttal.

    The bottom line is, however, that shareholders own the company, not the mgt. and accordingly, it is mgt.'s job to ensure shareholder return to the best of their ability. I don't feel they have done so, to the best of their ability. They clearly managed the price in the face of warrant conversion. What now?

    Agency theory arguments or otherwise, they are tasked with MVIS's success, and with that comes share mgt., not just secret negotiation strategery.

    DNA has fundamentals, and thusly, the market can assign it a value. MVIS has no fundamentals, and depends basically on AT to give us insight on what the value should be. Or at minimum, he should help us estimate the discounted PV, based on theorized future revenue...which we have been given little insight too thus far.

    We know the market for cars, cell phones, personal airplane screens and consumer devices ad nasuemis 100000000000 billion. We understand he can't "break things out."

    So the silence from the company, in this regard, is doing a disservice to the SH, unlike a similar quiet period from DNA.

    I believe that is the source of contention, not the technology or its applications, or the risk involved with various trading strategies.

    As a final aside, it is Fly's job to make money. It is his duty, to his shareholders (so to speak.) So in no way should he be faulted for being too anything (aggressive, short-term, impatient, you pick the adjective)

    ReplyDelete
  22. Broker A, Wood,

    Assuming that there are no new developments not covered by non-disclosure agreements, what should AT say in the PR you want him to put out? Should it just repeat info we already have?

    Stand-alone 4Q08, Embedded 1Q09.

    A PR without substance is worse than no PR at all.

    ReplyDelete
  23. tps115, have you seen the latest SEC filing? There's another million shares up for sale.

    How about an update on the ROV? Is it just me, or is there a problem with the launch?

    There are clearly some developments being made with the lasers, since the last CC. How about an update on those?

    Where are we with the power requirements? Any progress being made on that front?

    You see, tps, if there is no news, well then we know that MVIS is going to get run over by their competitors.

    Maybe they need to save all the good news for the next CC? Something to mitigate another quarter of losses?

    Also, I'm concerned why the anonymous comment about the gating issue was deleted from here today.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Woodshedder and everyone,

    I'm responsible for deleting comments. I used to have comment moderation on, and I might go back to it. Don't get shocked when stuff gets whacked -- you might leave every comment on your blog, but I can't let this thing turn into the Yahoo thread.

    ReplyDelete
  25. "A PR without substance is worse than no PR at all."

    That's your opinion.

    I'm from the school that believes any news is good news. It's better to know something than know nothing, etc.

    You ask, what should Tok and Co. say?

    Well, he gets paid, nearly 400k, to figure that stuff out for the company, not me.

    If it were me, trust me, I'd find things to talk about. Keep an open and honest discourse with all shareholders, not just a select few.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Ben, fair enough. I struggle with that dilemma on my own blog.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Broker A,

    Can't argue against open and honest discourse with shareholders, but I'm gun shy about pointless PR from MVIS. After RR's steady stream of updates that all portended "tremendous upside potential" but never amounted to anything, silence followed by hitting publicly stated benchmarks is superior.

    Wood,

    I'm left wondering about ROV as well. As all longs are betting money on AT's projections at this point he'd do well to keep us updated when they need "adjusting". May not necessarily but what you want to hear for short term PPS but better to explain sooner than later.

    TPS

    ReplyDelete
  28. You can buy ROV beta units now. Production units very soon. Do you blame Tokman for shooting for perfection? Remember Apple video Ipods, and the problems they had? It all worked out, but Tokman and Microvision can't go there right now imo.

    Thank you for contacting Serialio.com

    We have beta units only.
    We expect production units shortly.

    Would you like us to contact you when production units are available?

    Dave Boydston
    805.964.8883
    866.546.4523 FAX

    ReplyDelete
  29. TPS:

    I wasn't around for the RR days. But, what I do know is too little news is worse than too much.

    When a small cap concept stock goes on a blackout it causes indifference, then the volume dries up--them bam-- off with your face.

    While some of you are comfortable with having your face ripped off, as long as Ton and Co. are doing it, I am not.

    Instead, I prefer to see my investment nurtured, looked after if you will.

    So, to sum things up:

    CES better be kick ass.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Broker Guy,
    listen, the point is the company is not here to serve you. The company will make PR statements as they wish. They are not beholden to "nurture" you. Please read my above comments about you having some mommy issues.
    There may be some other companies out there that would better suit you.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Anonymous, last time I checked, this was a publicly traded company, owned by the shareholders. The company is ABSOLUTELY here to serve the shareholder. Without us buying this up, there would have been no warrant conversion, and then no cash. I might add, this cash has paid for AT's raise. In the future, when more cash in necessary, who do you think will buy the offerings? Do you propose we sink our money into a company and then never expect anything in return?

    Again, your lack of intelligence is so made obvious by the fact that you remain anonymous and you use ad hominem attacks.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Just say no to flame wars on MVIS Blog. Take it outside, fellas.

    ReplyDelete
  33. is "woodcheddar Or Broker A not anonymous, give me a break

    ReplyDelete

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