Friday, July 18, 2008

MyVu personal video displays ready to grow

By Efrain Viscarolasaga

The future of personal video entertainment could be coming to a store near you, and if you blink, you won’t miss it. It will still be right there on the bridge of your nose.

Westwood-based MyVu Corp., which has developed a personal optical display for showing high-quality video within a pair of eyeglasses, has had a product in the market for more than a year. But since the launch two months ago of its premium product, dubbed “Crystal,” executives report a sharp increase in retail sales and are hoping for still greater growth after a trial placement in 500 Best Buy stores nationwide, set to begin in September.

MyVu’s optical displays, which look like futuristic sunglasses, allow a user to get a personal view of video content from a cell phone, iPod, portable DVD player or other device.

Much of the company’s business has come from travelers, who use the devices on flights, but according to Tom Stearns, director of marketing communications for the company, the launch of the more fashion-oriented Crystal glasses is broadening the firm’s demographic.

“The product has reached the point where people really enjoy wearing it,” he said.

“We have already established retail relationships with a number of outlets (including Brookstone and the Apple Store), but since Crystal they have really been taking off.”

The Best Buy deal is slated to include a roll out to about 500 locations nationwide in September, and if all goes well, a full roll out in November or December.

While executives would not divulge revenue numbers, founder and CTO Mark Spitzer said he expects the company to increase its sales by a factor of five over last year.

The rise of video-ready devices, as well as digital video content, has helped MyVu build a customer base among a new collection of consumers.

The company offers an iPod-ready product, as well as a standard product that can connect with any other device with a video output.

The glasses also feature Ultimate Ears earbuds from California-based Ultimate Ears LLC for transmitting the audio as part of the product itself.

The Crystal product retails for about $300, while the previous iteration, which comes in a regular version (Solo) and one with sunglass lenses (Shades), is about $200.

MyVu was founded by Spitzer, a former chief scientist at Taunton’s Kopin Corp. In 2006 it received an $11.5 million funding to help gain a foothold in the consumer market after getting started in specialty markets. Investors include Intel Capital, The Hillman Co., Turner Broadcasting System and Atlas Venture of Waltham. The company added CEO Kenneth Kokinakis, the former CEO of Utah-based Aura Communications Inc., a maker of technologies for wireless headphones, to help with the consumer push.