Is That a Projector in Your Pocket?

August 13th, 2009 by Payam Keyhantaj | located in mobility | trackback

A recent article in Forbes about cell phone manufacturers adding video projection capabilities to smart phones and PDAs got me thinking about the mobility benefits of such a product.

A salesperson’s array of hardware to pack for road trips has definitely grown over the years—but (thankfully) has also shrunk in size and weight. Laptops and cell phones, for example are much lighter and smaller. And mini LED projectors, I discovered, are not only much smaller—3M makes one that apparently fits in your shirt pocket—but also much less expensive (around $350 to $800 US). The point is, now salespeople have a viable option for showing business presentations to clients using a projector rather than a tiny laptop screen.

In 2010, mini projectors are expected to not only grow even smaller, but actually become part of cell phones themselves. Samsung is now shipping a mobile phone with an embedded LED projector to customers in Korea, and says its Samsung I7410 phone will be available to customers in the European market later this year. The phone is supposed to project Powerpoint slides and product images, for example, up to 50 inches in height, and include a 5-megapixel camera and high-resolution, color touch screen. The phone is expected to cost a whopping $980 US.

Assuming projection quality is decent, is this kind of compact functionality worth the price? Analysts seem to think so—sales of embedded projectors are expected to exceed $1.1 billion by 2012, according to Insight Media.

How likely are you to buy such a device? Would a built-in projector help your team increase sales?

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