Financial

We just got word from Ray Displays that they lowered the price of the Ray Projector to $199 (down from $229, available in Ray Displays' web site). This makes it one of the cheapest pico-projectors you could find. The Ray is an LCoS projector with 640x480 resolution and 8-10 lumens.

We just published our review of this projector, and this new price point makes it a better purchase of course...

Luminus Devices raised $19 million from several Venture funds. They will use the funds to increase profitability, maintain minimal debt, support growth and the expansion of Luminus’ products and applications.

Luminus are making LED light sources (PhlatLight) that are used in all projector categories, including pico-projectors. 

WowWee has lowered the price of their DLP (480x360, 10 lumens) pico-projector, the Cinemin Swivel to $275 (from $295). The swivel has a 90-degree hinge, so projection in any angle is easy to do.

WowWee Swivel Projector

The Cinemin Swivel is now available in the US for 275$.

Another cheap ($149) pico-projector hits Amazon.com. The Generic Mini-USB is an LCoS projector that has 640x480 resolution and can display images up to 50". It can only be used with a laptop, as it uses USB for power and data.

Because the Sanwa projector is now priced at $179, this is the cheapest pico-projector you can buy today at $149. 

Himax has posted their 4Q financial results. Here's the pico-projector relevant part:

"During the past year, we further strengthened our leadership in the world's emerging pico-projector industry with a solid shipment record and increasing new design-wins. Notably, our LCoS pico-projector solutions enabled the world's first projector-embedded digital camera, marking another milestone in the field of innovation. Recent customer feedback and intensive design-in activities firmly support our belief that 2010 will be a promising year for our LCOS pico-projector solutions. As both orders and design-ins are picking up strongly, we are planning to expand our in-house capacity to fulfill the increasing demand for our LCoS panels. Looking into 2010 and beyond, we expect to see increasing adoptions of our LCoS pico-projector solutions by our customers in various applications."

Asia Optical is bullish on pico-projectors: they expect to ship 8 million pico-projector modules for mobile phones in 2011. In 2010 they plan to ship only 100,000... Asia Optical has been supplying pico-projector modules for Microvision's Show WX, and the expect to ship 200,000-250,000 projectors to microvision in 2010. 

Update: Amazon say that the projector is now "unavailable", and just before they have updated the price to $179. I hope some lucky users actually got to buy this for $119. We'll keep you updated...

There's a new pico-projector available over at amazon.com for only $119 (that's the cheapest pico-projector available!), and it seems to be exactly the same as the Sanwa 400 PRJ-001 projector. It's an Himax LCoS projector, 640x480, 100c.c. in size, and uses USB for video-connection and power. The projector weights only 85 grams.

Sanwa 400 PRJ-001

Buy this projector now for $119.