Microvision receives $8.5M purchase order for PicoP laser projection display engine

Redmond, WA--Laser Focus World doesn’t normally consider purchase orders for photonics components or systems as news; however, an $8.5 million dollar order is significant. Microvision, a developer of ultra-miniature projection display products or picoprojector products, received the multi-million dollar purchase order for its new PicoP(R) laser projection display engine from a consumer electronics customer. The OEM customer plans to embed the PicoP engine inside a high-end mobile media player for release in late 2010 and plans to announce its launch at that time. See also related articles: "VGA OLED microdisplay is picoprojector source" and "Smallest WVGA microdisplay targets picoprojector market".

Microvision recently announced the completion and shipment of initial samples of its new display engine that incorporates a proprietary ASIC chipset half the original size and weight and that consumes one third less power than its predecessor. Microvision says it delivers uniformly bright, vivid color WVGA (848 X 480) images up to 200 inches and also provides a 5000:1 contrast ratio--five times greater than other picoprojector engines on the market today. The image it delivers, they add, is always in focus without the need for focusing dials or optics--an especially desirable benefit for mobile consumers.

"We are very pleased to receive the first purchase order for our new display engine," said Alexander Tokman, president and CEO of Microvision. "This embedded application in a high-end mobile media player is part of our strategy to develop multiple premium distribution channels as we continue to advance the PicoP engine design and mature production capacity to meet anticipated demand across a variety of consumer electronic products including handsets."

--Posted by Gail Overton; [email protected]; www.laserfocusworld.com.