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Mini-projectors for mobile phones showcased at CES

Mobile phones that project video and global positioning system (GPS) devices that display maps on anything from table tops to walls are some of the products showcasing hot new projection technologies at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week.

Exhibitors at the world's largest consumer electronics trade show are showing off matchbox-sized gizmos that can turn mobile telephones, MP3 players and handheld GPS navigation devices into picture and video projectors.

"It can be used when you want to share images or video with more than one person who wants to see it," Greg Roberts of 3M Corp said. "It's cool. Young people will love it."

With the small gadgets, which attach to handheld devices, one can project digital TV shows or videos from the Internet onto walls to share with friends, or do the same with advertising, multimedia presentations or sales pitches.

The technology is expected to be available in the market in the coming months at reasonable prices because it is made from a blend of existing technologies, Roberts said.

The 3M version of the gadget combines a luminous light emitting diode and a liquid crystal display to project light through a lens.

Electronics makers Microvision and Light Blue Optics are also developing their own versions of the projection technology.

Microvision, which works with device makers such as Motorola, boasts that its PicoP system can turn laptop computers, digital cameras, video-enabled MP3 players and mobile telephones into large-image projectors.

UK-based Light Blue Optics is creating miniature projectors using laser beams that keep images clear no matter how far the impromptu screens.

In a demonstration of the technology at the CES, Sony Walkman displayed rich, crisp images on a white table top.

Analysts expect the market for mini-projectors to explode in the coming four years.

"Such display solutions not only offer a larger viewing area, but also lower costs, decreased power consumption and reduced weight and size," said Jennifer Colegrove, a senior analyst at technology tracker iSuppli Corp.

ISuppli expects annual sales of pocket projectors to reach 1.7 million units by 2012.

A recent forecast by display researcher Pacific Media Associates was more optimistic, contending sales of pocket projectors and other miniature "low power and low cost" projection devices would rise to 6.5 million by 2011.
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