On Thursday of this week (9-5-97) Kopin announced in a press release a multi million dollar, multi year alliance with Motorola to produce "smart phones" and other communications products using Kopin's CyberDisplay: a flat panel .24 inch diagonal transmissive active matrix LCD with a resolution of 320 X 240 pixels. It also stated that International Data Corp projects an annual compound growth rate of nearly 100% through the year 2001 for "smart phones".
This announcement is important for several reasons. First, it signifies that Motorola, never a market niche player, anticipates significant revenue generated by this new market and is willing to invest capital to secure its development and growth. If Motorola recognizes "smart phones" as the wave of the future, the other telecommunication giants won't be far behind and by necessity will want to leap frog Motorola"s entry by exploiting competing technologies that offer superior enhancements.
Since Microvision's VRD already exceeds Kopin's flat panel display in resolution, brightness, contrast, and (most likely) lower power consumption, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that at some point in the near future someone like Ericsson (with whom MVIS already has an established relationship through its Saab/Ericsson avionics unit) will come to Microvision's door, dollars in hand, to ramp up the development of the VRD technology for use in "smart phones".
With Microvision's VRD prototype already delivered to Boeing and more advanced versions to be delivered to Saab and others in October, this next year should most interesting. So fasten your seatbelts, cosmonauts. The ride may be rough. But the direction is definitely up.
RF |
