While three Taiwan companies – Aiptek, Acer and Ipevo – were all awarded WinHEC Awards in the Media & Entertainment category at the recently concluded WinHEC 2008, Aiptek was perhaps able to claim additional bragging rights, as its PocketCinema V10 pico projector also won a special "Judge's Choice" award at the event.
The recognition of Aiptek by the judges and Microsoft represented an acknowledgment of the emergence of the pico projector segment, as well as Aiptek's leadership position in the market, one judge commented.
Semiconductor and display companies have sought to tap the pico projector market for several years, but products were mostly only available for display at industry trade shows. However, in the third quarter of this year, the first shipments of pico projectors hit the market, generating a lot of buzz, according to market research firm Pacific Media Associates (PMA).
New models from 3M, Aiptek, Dell, Optoma, and Samsung were launched during the quarter and shipments are expected to rapidly ramp up this holiday season and into 2009, according to recent comments from PMA vice president Michael Abramson.
Behind the advancements of pico projector technology from companies such as Microvision, Texas Instruments (TI) and 3M lies the promise of bringing a large-screen viewing experience to handsets, portable media players, and other mobile gadgets.
During WinHEC 2008 and in line with market expectations, Aiptek's PocketCinema V10 – equipped with 3M's LCOS mobile projection technology – was projecting images from devices including a PC, Mobile Internet Device (MID) and iPod onto a 50-inch screen. However, WinHEC differed from previous shows because representatives from the company were finally able to provide information about where the devices can be purchased.
Commenting on sales, the company pointed out that the device's 3-in-1 AV jack can project a 10-lumen image of content ranging from business presentations sitting on a smartphone to the latest games played on a Wii games console, so sales are being driven from both business and consumer demand.
The device can also playback videos and photos from its 1GB internal memory or SD/MMC/MS Pro cards, turning the PocketCinema V10 into a self-contained portable media device. The PocketCinema V10 supports JPEG, ASF, AVI and MPEG-4 formats and features a stereo speaker and built-in battery.
One judge commented on the sidelines of WinHEC 2008 that the storage feature of the device was the deciding factor in awarding the company the prize. Recent products from Optoma and 3M still require a connection to a computer or host device. However, Aiptek's PocketCinema V10 allows users to store images, videos, and music directly in the projector, helping the product live up to the company's marketing theme of bringing technology to everyday life.
Company chairman Peter Chen indicated that next-generation PocketCinema versions will be even smaller, brighter, and cheaper, while the company is also looking to implement more technologies and functions into the product. Chen added that the handheld projector market has good prospects, and the company plans to release four to five more new models next year.
The PocketCinema V10 pico projector is the company's first handheld projector, but Aiptek indicated that it has years of experience developing related products in the digital video camcorder (DV) and digital camera markets.
Microsoft awarded the WinHEC Awards in five categories to promote R&D innovation among Taiwan-based makers/vendors of hardware devices supporting Windows, Microsoft Taiwan pointed out. For the judge's prize, 110 product items entered for consideration, and 25 products, representing 17 companies, were selected as finalists, Microsoft Taiwan indicated.
Article translated by Yvonne Yu
