To my Microvision friends,

I have glanced at some of the reports thus far, and though they are fairly comprehensive, I think they may miss some of the visceral benefits of attendance at these meetings.

Let me get any perceived bad news out of the way at the outset. Some people here are focusing on this way too much. Alex said there will most likely be another round of financing at some point, but wasn’t that inevitable given the delays? The delays were not the fault of Microvision, but they were in securing the supply pipeline. The move from prototype to mass production had some friction…that is not unexpected. I had anticipated as much. All of these (as someone already pointed out here)artificially adopted checkpoints we’ve seen thrown up here, using imagination alone, have expectedly, given false hopes for things like an embedded phone by this Christmas..it won’t happen. Next Christmas, maybe. But what is real is that this thing will move forward, on its own timetable, and it will succeed.

The “Hybrid” strategy of near-term sales was already touched upon: basically three prong: 1. Private label marketing by third parties (MVIS supplies the thing, they slap on their own logos)2. International distribution: it is thought that overseas presents a stronger market at present, as people take up new technology faster, and at better premiums than in the U.S….we are all Walmart shoppers apparently. 3. Microvision sells via their website.

Alex stated that he doesn’t intend to compete with his customers. I imagine that they really aren’t concerned about major sales via their web site, but will just prove they can manufacture and deliver a great product. The proof of the supply chain is the goal, not super web sales.

Before I touch on MVIS particulars, I should preface with some stats that Alex brought to our attention. I know we have heard these before, but they are compelling (to remind ourselves) nonetheless.
1. 1.18 Billion (B) cell phones sold 2008,
2.140 million were smart phones
3. 2010 will bring $43Billion in cell data services (content!)
4.The biggest of these in descending order are Music videos, video gaming and (can’t read my writing on third).
5.Cameras went from $0 to $327million in 5 years
6.2010 will bring $1Billion in camera portion of cell phone sales.(remember this for later in this discussion)

I wish to digress for a moment here. I think several of our MVIS friends here came back with some negativity. I think this is misplaced.

Sure, we were all expecting an OEM announcement, but as Alex reminded us, they don’t control the announcements of their customers, and must respect the NDAs(Non-disclosure Agreements). Alex has a fine line to walk, he wants to give us a full picture of the future, but is hamstrung by his clients. I don’t think It is difficult to read between the lines here…more on that later. Suffice it to say for the moment, that if you had gone and seen the ShowWXs and the number of suits in the audience(institutions??? More than last year or the previous year before that). You would have been pleased.

Now back to the figures on camera phones (almost all phones have them these days, right?) Well, Alex pointed out—and this is something I had not considered…thanks Alex!—the projector presents advantages the camera does not. Content providers, service providers don’t really make any money off of cameras, but everyone will make money off of the projector: advertisers, content providers, service providers, cell phone makers. They will all benefit from the projector.

Alex reminded us of Micorvision’s patent pipeline, up from number 20 on the companies with the most powerful patent pipeline to number 17.

Hi volume production 2010.

Osram and Corning are not only improving n the technology, but performance and price. The next generation will bear this out.

There are application they have not discussed yet, that are in the background…be patient he says…I am, and will continue to be.

Embedded will be in 2010, and eyewear slated for 2011.

Here, again, are Pico advantages:
1. Unique colors factor…there are 3 settings on the Wx. One is reverse for powerpoints, the next is natural and the third is vibrant…and my god is it vibrant! I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen, it was like candy to the eyes. It is a color saturation that I haven’t seen on even a TV. It is surreal. It like the next dimension in color…you’ve got to see it.
2. Thin (thinnest to date)
3. Batt life
4. Focus free…very big deal. I just don’t see a phone with one of these things without this feature alone.
5. Large screen WX.
6. Superior font…I could read the 10 pt fond easily, even on a grooved wall. The grooves were about ½ inch deep.
7. Brightness
8. Uniformity of brightness..it is bright from edge to edge, unlike some other competitors.
9. No rainbow effect.
10. 2 times the color range of (NTSC)
11. WVGA sharper detail

Alex mentioned that they took the thing to MacWorld just to see how it fit, and it won BEST GADGET for this year’s show.

Alex discussed how they have pulled their horns in a bit, concentrating on the Show and letting the HUD slip a bit because of the long lead times in the auto market.

But the HUD was quite small, about the size of one of those small file boxes, or a small jewel case.If you put your hands together touching all of your finger tips, this is about the size and volume of the thing. It weighed about 1.5 lbs. the last gen was more than twice as big (almost 4x)

Alex reminded us that HD will be best for Microvision’s tech as it will remain small with increase to HD, while some tech will be required to grow, in size and complexity.

The little tidbit about Apple was good. He would not answer directly a question about any association, but he did say that they loved us at MacWorld, and we should be patient…I will read between the lines a bit here.

All for now must run.

I am upbeat and have alerted my family that the last chance to load up may come soon…I risk my fortunes and reputation, but these guys are to notch, and I am confident in their ability to capitalize on this tech.

Cheers,

EK

PS I felt the Show WX again to see if it was hot during display...it is barely warm to the touch. Less warm than a charging cell phone....that is the truth.