Been on the Pico Projector sidelines? Not too sure of the real value proposition of these tiny pocket projectors that place a beamed image anywhere—yes anywhere, like the back of a tortilla at your favorite River Walk haunt during Display Week (see image.)

Steve Sechrist
Senior Analyst and Editor

Well get ready for what may be the "make or break" test for this nascent display category as iPhone accessory maker PhoneSuit is about to launch a cool (really cool) looking pico projector with an industrial design worthy of the top selling Smartphone. So cool in fact, we think it’s likely to chart the path to a whole new generation of pico projection accessory devices.

Hey, how can a 10 lumen SD resolution (480p) LCoS/LED based pico projector (with on-board battery) for the iPod/iPhone do all that you may ask? One look at the product helps to answer the question. Until now, these pico devices lay flat on a table, or required hand held operation. Neither is a good option for a stable display. The MiLo Pro industrial design offers a flip open clam-shell style with a kick-stand like arm that positions the tiny projector forward, while cradling the iPhone (iTouch, iPod) at just the right angle to serve up the image. Beyond the iPhone cradle, key features include touchpad, speaker, a separate VGA input (for RCA jack), and USB output. And we think this is just the beginning.

But cool (functional) industrial design is just part of the solution. To make it in the market, the enabling device must find its "killer app" and for now, no one can say what that may be. But with the cornucopia of application choices out there, the killer app may just be the access to iPhone apps itself.

With a recent new "3GS" iPhone product launch that hit the one million sales mark in its opening weekend, new lower-priced models, and more importantly - one billion application downloads to its credit, hitching the pico projector to the iPhone / iTunes / iPod star may be just the thing to push this category beyond the early adopter stage and land it square into the mainstream market. We’ll see.