In North America there was a continued shift to widescreen (Wide XGA) in the professional market and to 1080p in the home theater market. Q3 also marked a burst of activity with a handful of manufacturers – including Dell, Optoma and Samsung - launching pico projectors, which are tiny projectors designed to bring a large-screen viewing experience to mobile phones, portable media players and other mobile devices. “We expect shipments to rapidly ramp up this holiday season into 2009,” said Michael Abramson, president of PMA.
Optoma begins shipping its Pico PK-101 (MSRP $399) this month. It weighs about 4 ounces and is smaller than many smart phones. Using DLP technology, the Pico can project pictures and videos onto a screen or wall up to 100 times larger than the small screen of the source device, Grodem said. The Pico, which comes with two batteries, can run on a single battery for about 1.5 hours, and can be recharged using an included mini USB cable.
“There’s more and more content going mobile,” said Jon Grodem, Optoma’s director of product and marketing , referring to devices such as Pure Digital’s Flip camcorder, iPhones, portable gaming systems and a host of other devices. “The question is, how do you share content over a three-inch screen. That becomes more important because the younger generation wants to share everything.”
The Pico also fits several small business niches, such as the real estate market, Grodem said. “Is it the right product for everything? No. But it is a lot of fun and fits right into the consumer and some business markets,” Grodem said.
Mitsubishi Digital Electronics also released what it’s calling a pico, the XD95U 3.3-pounder aimed at presenters on the go, as well as small classrooms and meeting rooms. It has an estimated 3000-hour lamp life, 2200 lumens and an MSRP of $1,495.
PMA also identified short-throw projection – defined as projection of an 80-inch image from as close as three inches away – as another hot area, expanding from the education market to small meeting rooms, digital signage and public venue entertainment, and as an alternative to flat panel displays.
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