Internal projectors coming to the iPhone/iPod touch!

MiLi Pro iPhone projector – Last week I wrote about a micro projector coming soon for the iPhone and iPod touch. Such devices will prove to be very useful for showcasing your holiday snaps or to simply project a movie where ever you are. But a company involved with manufacturing the iPhone, Foxconn, is rumored to be developing its own micro projection system that could feature in the next generation iPhone or iPod touch.

Micro projection technology is slowing making its way mainstream, with many companies now offering portable solutions for projection from a mobile phone or computer. Still, the technology requires the projector devices themselves to be similar in size to the iPhone. So, for a company to integrate the same technology and power into such a space that the iPhone doesn’t drastically grow in size would be an achievement. It is believed that other leading smartphone companies such as Nokia and Samsung have plans to incorporate this technology into their handsets this year, but only time will tell whether they take off.

For these iphone projectors to be worthwhile, the bulb will need to be significantly powerful enough for a good quality image to be projected at around 40-inches in size. I’d hate to think what that would do to the iPhone’s battery life. It’s certainly an interesting concept, but until we know more details, that’s all it can be. Maybe in a couple of years everyone’s phone will be projecting movies and photos onto every blank wall.

Meanwhile there is news that Apple is developing “active packaging” for mobile devices.

According to a new patent application from Apple, the company we all know and love wants to create a new type of packing for their iPhones and iPods.  As we have seen through the years, normal packaging is designed to put some sort of advertisement on the outside while also keeping the product inside safe and sound. With this new “active packaging,” Apple would be able to both power the device and send data to it in order to have it display some sort of media, such as a video, while sitting on shelves waiting to be purchased.

As Apple puts it, “The power may be provided by a direct power connection to an external power supply or by one or more wireless power techniques. A data signal may be provided by one or more direct data lines to the electronic media device within the packaging, or the electronic media device may enable an integrated wireless network interface to receive a data stream while housed in the packaging.”

In theory, this sounds pretty awesome, why not put the device to use while it is on shelves? However, in my opinion it will take a lot of research and development to work correctly and efficiently, the way most Apple products do. For example, Apple may have to get retailers such as Best Buy to offer some way to charge these devices while they are on shelves, which could be expensive and unpractical. That said, I would love to see this sometime in the future.

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