Dick Tracy, Meet '3G'
Article in yesterday's Journal, page B1, and online [subscription req'd]:
interactive.wsj.com
Japanese Cellphones Will Feature Cameras, Digital Video Screens
By PETER LANDERS
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
TOKYO -- Officially, Toshiro Iizuka's job is to design cellphones for Panasonic. But the term hardly does justice to the goodies he pulls out of his briefcase.
The bottom of one prototype phone slides out to reveal a nearly full-sized keyboard. Another is shaped like a Dick Tracy-style wristwatch with a video screen. A third features a miniature video camera that swings out from the back. ...
Interesting. A Kopin customer. Matsushita/Panasonic added CyberDisplay viewfinders to some camcorder models last year:
corporate-ir.net
CyberDisplay is well suited to any application that involves simultaneous transmission of voice and video; if a "killer app" comes along in that category, that will be very positive for CyberDisplay.
Applications that require a lot of navigation are more problematic. We need a design that combines a decent screen with with easy simultaneous navigation. Wrt solutions, we are in the experimentation phase. Voice recognition makes sense, especially for the wristwatch style, but Dick Tracy was far ahead of his time <g>. Neilsen may be right that "once consumers see something that's that much better, it's going to take over."
In the meantime, I'd rather see Kopin go after digital cameras more aggressively; that's an ideal application and has no user interface problem to be solved. That application should open up as Kopin drives down production costs, since it's a lower priced end product than camcorders.
WT |
