Comments on: What Customers Think of the ROV Barcode Scanner

By: Anant Goel

Anant Goel — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:59:26 +0000

Marketing surveys are fun to watch as the results are always skewed to essentially support what the management wants to hear. Because the type of questions included in the survey are very narrow in scope and usually never ask the sensitive questions like: “Why can’t we sell more of this great product and make a profit”. Yes, ROV Scanner [Barcode Scanner] is a great product and has all the great reviews that go with a high tech, cost effective and reliable product. What these surveys don’t ask and, therefore, don’t tell: “How come ROV Scanner does not sell well and continues to be a loss leader even after two years since product introduction.”

Here are the results of my [cheap and dirty] survey…

• It is a very mature technology and Barcode Scanners are a commodity product like computer keyboards… some cheap and others a little bit more expensive. You can sell hundreds of millions and still not make a buck, so to speak. Market does not care [really] that your ROV Scanner is MEMS based and therefore deserves a premium pricing.

• It’s a low entry cost product and there are too many players in the business trying to make a buck or two.

• Market leaders [like Symbol] have very broad [applications] and deep [lots of accessories] product offering and have essentially a lock on the market… in terms of its vast customer base and breath of barcode scanner applications. It is not easy for any newcomer [like Microvision] to break into this market without an opening created due to technology obsolesce or product related issues at the market leader.

• You can not make a decent profit unless you move your Barcode Scanner as a component into “value add” products that perform business and/or legacy functions. Not only that, be prepared to compete like hell with the likes of Symbol Technologies on price and functionality.

In my humble opinion, Microvision should either collaborate with a market leader in the Barcode Scanner based value add product space to gain some traction in sales and profitability…or just put ROV Scanner division up for sale for a million or two.

Anant Goel

By: Andy Waschick

Andy Waschick — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:57:48 +0000

This is great and all, from a revenue-generation and technology-refinement standpoint, but I’d just like to drop a note here to let you know that the one and only thing I am watching this weblog for: it’s to find out about developments concerning WEARABLE DISPLAYS.

When people can have access to a persistent overlay of information in their field of view 24/7 (that doesn’t make them look like a gargoyle) it will have a profound impact on our cultural and intellectual output, our ability to know and do and share. In the short term, the PicoP stuff is a great first step (which in itself will cause some pretty big ripples in the pond– imagine flash-mobs of activists armed with picoP devices and imagery)…

But, ultimately, what I am looking for from Microvision, is not remarkably affordable, useful barcode scanners. I understand this is a way to use core technologies right now to generate revenue and make the company stronger for the cool stuff later… but it’s that cool future stuff we need to be seeing more of on this weblog. Tell me stories about how I’ll have tiny lasers painting images directly on my retina. Tell me when I can pick up my glasses. Hell, if such a product were available today, if there’s beta testing happening… alpha testing happening, even… SIGN ME UP.

By: Craig Chase

Craig Chase — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:35:21 +0000

The ROV barcode scanner seems to be a black hole in the Microvision product line. Like most investors the projectors/HUD/Augmented reality glasses are the bigger interest products. However, I would like to know how many of the ROV scanners have been purchased? What is our market share in the portable scanner market? It would be nice to know how this aspect of the business id doing.

Craig Chase