9/16/2004 6:31:00 AM
BOTHELL, Wash., Sep 16, 2004 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Microvision, Inc.
(Nasdaq:MVIS) today announced that it will feature the company’s Nomad
Augmented Vision System to over 1,000 American Honda Dealership Owners
and General Managers at Honda’s annual dealer meeting held in Orlando,
Florida, September 21 – 23. The showcase is part of Honda’s recently
launched national direct marketing campaign of the Nomad System to its
dealer network that offers Honda dealers a special purchase bundle and
pricing for the Nomad System.
Microvision and Honda will be demonstrating the utility and ease
of use of the Nomad System, which provides productivity and quality
benefits to service technicians, service advisors, body shop
estimators and parts personnel by having service and other relevant
information superimposed on their vision as they work; right at the
vehicle, in the service drive or on the move in the parts warehouse.
Microvision and Honda also featured the Nomad System to Acura
dealers at the American Honda Motor Company’s Acura Dealer show last
month in Chicago. Microvision has reported that to date more than 70
Acura dealers have expressed interest in buying or having the Nomad
System demonstrated in their dealership.
The Nomad Expert Technician System is a powerful tool that
promises to increase the efficiency and accuracy of service
technicians performing complex repair procedures, thereby reducing
costs and increasing customer satisfaction. The wireless computer with
head-worn see-through display, using Microvision’s proprietary scanned
beam display technology, can overlay automobile diagnostics, repair
instructions, and Dealer Management System information directly on the
wearer’s vision. The result is that work is completed more accurately
and more efficiently.
In a previously announced field trial of the Nomad Augmented
Vision System at the American Honda Motor Company training center in
Torrance, CA, Microvision and Honda measured average increases of 39%
in the efficiency of skilled service technicians performing complex
repair procedures. As part of a recent study commissioned by
Microvision, a formula for return on investment (ROI) with the use of
the Nomad Augmented Vision System was created for a typical automotive
dealership. At a conservative 18 – 20% time efficiency gain, a
dealership would realize a net ROI of $2,292 per technician per month.
Annualized for eight technicians the ROI could be as high as $113,000.
American Honda Motor Company has approximately 1,300 Honda and
Acura dealerships with an estimated 18,000 technicians, as well as an
estimated 50,000 Honda-certified independent technicians in the U.S.
The service technicians, body shop estimators, shop foremen, service
advisors, and parts warehouse workers in each of these locations are
all potential users of the Nomad Expert Technician System.
About Microvision: www.microvision.com
Headquartered in Bothell, Wash., Microvision Inc. is the developer
of highly patented scanned beam technology for display and imaging
applications. The company’s technology has applications in a broad
range of military, medical, industrial, professional and consumer
information products.
Forward-Looking Statement
Certain statements contained in this release, including potential
product applications and sales, potential market opportunity,
potential product benefits, as well as statements containing words
like “can,” “expect,” and other similar expressions, are
forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and
uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those projected in the company’s forward-looking
statements include the following: market acceptance of our
technologies and products; our ability to obtain financing; our
financial and technical resources relative to those of our
competitors; our ability to keep up with rapid technological change;
government regulation of our technologies; our ability to enforce our
intellectual property rights and protect our proprietary technologies;
the ability to obtain additional contract awards and to develop
partnership opportunities; the timing of commercial product launches;
the ability to achieve key technical milestones in key products; and
other risk factors identified from time to time in the company’s SEC
reports, including in its Annual Report on 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2003, and its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.
SOURCE: Microvision, Inc.
Microvision, Inc.
Matt Nichols, 425-415-6657 (Media)
Brian Heagler, 425-415-6794 (Investors)