Optoma

Pacific Media Associates (PMA) announced their best-selling projectors lists. In the New-Era and Pico category (sub-500 lumens), the top five projects in North America in November 2011 are the Vivitek Qumi Q2, followed by the Optoma PK-301 and Optoma PK-201, the Acer K11 and the Optoma PT100. Only two of those (Optoma's PK-301 and PK-201) are pico-projectors (battery powered). 

In our own best selling pico projector list posted last month, the PK-301 was indeed the best selling model, followed by the ShowWX classic and the PK-201.

Update: The PK-320 is only shipping in Europe, but you can get it shipped to the US via Europe (that's the Amazon link we have below).

Optoma's PK-320 is now shipping - for $479. The PK320 is a 80 Lumens WVGA DLP pico projector - the brightest pico projector yet together with AAXA's P4. It has USB, VGA, HDMI and video inputs, and an internal media player (with a microSD card slot).

While Optoma still haven't officially announced the PK320 pico projector - it seems that Amazon.co.uk is already shipping it. This is rather strange... but in any acase, they finally released a photo of the new projector (from Amazon's product page).

Optoma's PK320 is a 80 Lumens WVGA DLP pico projector - the brightest pico projector yet. It has USB, VGA, HDMI and video inputs, and an internal media player (with a microSD card slot). Like we said, it's (perhaps) shipping in the UK for £370 and will ship in the US soon, you can already order it at Amazon.com for $449.

We just stumbled across a page in Amazon.com listing a yet-unreleased Optoma pico projector - the PK320. It's a 80 Lumens WVGA pico projector - the brightest pico projector yet (and it probably uses DLP technology like all of Optoma's projectors). It has USB, VGA, HDMI and video inputs, and an internal media player (with a microSD card slot). We don't have a photo yet.

The PK320 will ship sometime between October and December according to Amazon, and will cost $449.

Microsoft Research developed a new doctor aid called AnatOnMe. It uses a pico-projector and a camera to project bone, muscle, tendons and nerves onto the patient's skin. The idea is to enhance doctor-patient communication. The device can also be used to project onto walls or models, enable printouts from the visit so the patient can look at these later (if the doctor for example recommends exercise, etc) and more tools for the doctor.

The projector used in the prototype is made by Optoma (DLP), I'm not sure which model. Seems to me that these kind of devices could be more useful with a focus-free laser projector. Here's a nice video from Microsoft showing what it's all about:

Here's our monthly best-selling pico-projectors list for the end of April 2011. We're using data from Amazon.com, which seems to be selling the most wide range of pico projectors. This list does not include embedded modules in mobile phones or cameras.

1. 3M MPro-150 ($259)
2. Microvision ShowWX+ ($349)
3. Optoma PK301 ($383)
4. Samsung SP-H03 ($283)
5. WowWee Cinemin Swivel ($149)
6. Optoma PK201 ($289)
7. 3M MP160 ($346)
8. FAVI E1-LED-PICO ($159)
9. 3M MP180 ($438)
10. Optoma PK-100 ($119.99)

The list contains pretty much the same projectors as last month. We keep seeing 3M, Optoma and Microvision dominating the market...

Optoma says that they expect about 1% of Apple's "i product" users (iPhone, iPad and iPod) to buy a Neo-i pico-projector dock. That seems quite bullish, and it means about one million Neo-i units in the next 3 years.

The Neo-i offers a 50-lumens 854x480 DLP pico-projector and two 8-Watt speakers. The Neo-i includes an HDMI input and weights 1.2Kg. It is now shipping for $399.