Microvision's Seemingly Obvious Manufacturing Partner

Today Microvision Inc. (MVIS), a company I have covered before, announced another development agreement with yet another undisclosed Asian consumer electronics manufacturer. Under this agreement, MVIS and it's manufacturing partner "will integrate the PicoP^TM display engine into fully functional stand-alone projector prototypes." These projector prototypes will then be targeted to consumer electronics companies for "private labeling and distribution for mobile applications including mobile phones and other devices."

What is different regarding this announcement however, is the seemingly blatant verbiage contained within the press release. According to the release, the manufacturer is "one of the world’s largest consumer electronics manufacturer of mobile phones, digital cameras and personal media players." By market share the five largest manufacturers of cell phones are as follows: Nokia (NOK), Motorola (MOT), Samsung, SonyEricsson (SNE) and LG, with the last three being Asian manufacturers.

Of these three, all manufacture and distribute personal media players. However, of the three only two manufacture digital cameras, leaving two possible candidates: SonyEricsson and Samsung. Technically speaking, LG does sell digital cameras, but none that exist independent of a host mobile phone. Due to the press releases’ attention to three distinct categories: mobile phones, personal media players and digital cameras, LG's technicality as a digital camera manufacturer seems to exclude it from the group.

Of the two remaining contenders, SonyEricsson and Samsung, only one of these companies has a prominent link and conjoined video referencing MVIS technology on their website, thus identifying the more likely suitor: SonyEricsson. With respect to the connections listed above, it would seem as though this current non-disclosure contract isn't quite as secretive as it is made out to be. More importantly however, is the significance of a development agreement with SonyEricsson or any of the aforementioned companies. Given that this most recent partnership is with one of the worlds largest consumer electronics manufacturers, it not only provide further credibility for Microvision's technology, but it also accelerates the commercialization of Microvision's PicoP.

Disclosure: The author owns shares and call options in MVIS.