
Apple Patent: Mini-Projectors Could Soon Come to iPads, iPhones - jamesbritt
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/08/apple-patent-mini-projectors-could-soon-come-to-ipads-iphones/243510/
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nkassis
Wasn't there an HTC Android phone about a year or two ago with an internal
projector?

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ori_b
I know for a fact that companies have been working on this sort of thing for
years. It's not a new idea.

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siglesias
It seems to me that the cons far outweigh the pros here, cons being: increased
costs, trapezoidal issues when throwing to a wall (requires machine vision to
map wall and adjust dynamically), durability issues, input issues (impede
image to adjust OR interact with device, which will shake the image), lighting
requirements. Plus, exactly how often does the situation arise where something
needs to be shown and there isn't a suitable screen around? We have laptops,
iPads, and often the smartphone's screen suffices.

Apple are wizards though, and if they can do the impossible here then it will
be a huge score for their hardware/software advantage.

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llambda
Here's the same article, formatted for print (I find these easier on the
eyes): [http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/print/2011/08/apple-
pa...](http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/print/2011/08/apple-patent-mini-
projectors-could-soon-come-to-ipads-iphones/243510/)

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polshaw
I don't see apple pulling this off in a way that would fit with their high
usability standards just yet.

Personally i could see it in the mac pro or iphone first.

But (whilst i think its awesome tech) i just have a feeling it is a little too
gimmicky for the iphone any time soon.

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potatolicious
It's a little annoying that the press flies off the handle about every patent
Apple files. We've seen this for years - Apple files _tons_ of patents that
never make it into a shipping product. To extrapolate from "Apple patents X"
into "Apple plans to ship X" is stupid.

It makes me wonder if Apple purposely patents things it doesn't plan to ship
to:

\- increase its patent portfolio

\- to inject noise and distract from patents it _does_ plan to ship

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technoslut
I think Apple patents everything they can find to avoid lawsuits. The patents
they've actually used in a product are the ones the filed against Android
manufacturers.

It's hard to take any of the patents seriously. Usually the new tech that
Apple introduces are patents filed very close to when the product is publicly
released so no one is aware of the feature. Even when they show new features
that come from these patents it's never quite the same as what those
illustrations show.

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lordmatty
Just because they have a patent doesn't mean they will manufacture a product.

Perhaps they just don't want their competitors to put it in their products,
for example.

