Lytro
- 3. Company Overview
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Formerly known as Refocus Imaging, Inc. ,company was founded
by Dr. Ren Ng in 2006
Company is based on founder’s award winning light field
dissertation at Stanford University
Lytro produces low price light field cameras aimed at consumer
market instead of industry and scientific applications
Company has raised almost $50 million from Andreessen
Horowitz, Greylock Partners, NEA, K9 ventures and some
individual investors
Advisory board includes co founders of VMWare, Intuit and
Sling media and two Nobel Laureates
Products were available for pre-order in 2011 and shipping begun
earlier this year
Company is headquartered in Mountain View, California with
some operations in Hongkong
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- 4. Product Offering
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Plenoptic cameras offered in 2 different memory ranges
Cameras are a squared tube with a 1.46 inch LCD touchscreen and 4.41
inches long
Internal flash memory
Mac only desktop application to import light field picture file(.lfp)
Free storage space on Lytro server for living pictures
No support for external flash memory
No Wi-Fi/Bluetooth support
Except for the memory and color ,
it is one basic product with no
options on resolution or display 8GB; Electric
Blue; $399
front.
No video recording
Only two levels of focus
Product catalog doesn’t mention
resolution of the light field picture
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8GB;
Graphite;$399
16GB; Red
Hot; $499
Light
Field
Camera
- 5. Technology
Light field technology captures all light rays travelling in all directions from a scene and
presents the huge data to a microlens array and image sensor for processing.
Compared to a traditional camera a light field camera gathers not only the
color/intensity information but also direction information falling on each focal
plane point.
This technology implies:
1. Shoot now, focus later. Auto focus is not required which translates into faster
snaps then point and shoot cameras.
2. Depth of focus. Since all light is captured from the scene, plenoptic cameras store
depth information from the scene. Lytro camera currently supports two level of
depths.
3. 3D images. Since living picture stores the depth information, 3D images can be
constructed using advanced software
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Image Source: Lytro.com
- 6. Market
Million Units Sold
Digital Still Camera (DSC) (101.6% YoY change)
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116
115
114
2011
Itemized Break up
Interchangeable Lens Cameras (116.6%
YoY change)
2012
Built-In Lens Cameras (99.2% YoY
change)
20
100
18
99.5
16
99
14
98.5
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2011
2012
2011
2012
Low end DSC models to expect stiff competition from cell phone cameras
Low end DSC rarely have internet connectivity features. Through a smart phone
users can easily share their photos and videos on social networking sites.
Also DSC rarely have GPS navigation system, which enables geo-tagging.
3D camera technology is expected to be the next big thing in DSC market.
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- 7. Management
• Company founder Ren Ng earned his PhD on light field
technology from Stanford University
• Charles Chi, Executive Chairman has around 20 years of
technology management and VC experience
• His experience along with other team members expertise
should enable Lytro to diversify its product line
• An average of 17+ years of technology focused work
experience for a team of 8
• Most of team members have history of
and innovation
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entrepreneurship
- 8. SWOT Analysis
Strength
Opportunities
• Low price for advanced technology
• Aimed at consumers rather than
industry and scientific applications
• Logic is built into the microlens array
instead of software
• No focus problem and hence it’s faster
to click snaps
• No light field camera in market for this
price range
• Extra megapixels are not a selling point
anymore for DSC market
• Expanding DSC market in India
Weakness
Threats
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Low resolution camera
Only 2 levels of depth in living picture
Not enough depth in product line
No video recording
Tiny display compared to other DSCs
Mac only desktop application
No internet connectivity
No tools or buttons to provide DoF
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• Untapped 3D still and video market
• Declining DSC sales
• Raytrix’s custom lightfield microlens
array for DSCs
• Increasing smart phone sale
• Improvements in image sensor
technology for cell phones
• Dual lens technology for DSCs
- 9. Competition
Raytrix GmbH
Major light field camera manufacturers for scientific and industrial applications
Also creates custom light field lenses for digital cameras
Camera capable of video capturing available in 1-7.25 megapixel range starting
with a price tag of 3,600 euros upto 36,000 euros
Pelican Imaging
Founded in 2008 company manufactures ultra thin cameras based on light field
lens array and algorithms for mobile phones
Indirect competition since mobile phones can eat into digital cam market
Marc Levoy also advises Pelican apart from Lytro
Panasonic
Dual lens digital cameras to take 2D and 3D snaps and videos
Dual lens create Extended Depth of Focus with blur effect
HTC
EVO 3D: Dual 5 MP camera phone to capture 3D videos
4.3 inch touchscreen 3D display
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- 10. USPs
• No fuss focus
• Shoot now focus later, since a plenoptic camera catches
intensity and direction of light, user need not worry
about focus when clicking
• Speed
• Since camera involves no shutter and no focusing is
involved user can click pics faster
• Competitive pricing
• Quite cheap when compared to Raytrix’s 3,600 euros for
a 1MP camera
• 3D effect
• Due to 2 depths of focus living pictures create a 3D effect
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- 11. Potential Buyers
Apart from technological know how and IP in an exciting new technology Lytro doesn’t have
sales/tangible assets to add value to shareholders or generate synergies.
Vertical Merger
Possible Value addition/Synergy:
Horizontal Merger
Possible Value addition/Synergy:
To acquire IP, patents and technological
know how, following phone manufacturers
can acquire Lytro:
1. Apple
2. Samsung
3. Nokia
4. RIMM
To acquire IP, patents and technological
know how, following camera manufacturers
can acquire Lytro:
1. Panasonic
2. Samsung
3. Nikon
4. Canon
Adding a new dimension to phone cameras
might be timely as high MP may not stay a
selling point for phones too.
Samsung has double reason to acquire Lytro,
for its camera as well as phone product lines.
New plenoptic camera will also provide App
store owners new stream of revenues from
new apps for the brand new editing needs of
the end user.
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If the acquirer is able to produce a consumer
oriented plenoptic camera with video capture
at a reasonable price, it will be industry
leader in consumer segment, even after
taking into account product canibalization.
- 12. References
1. Lytro: It’s focusing on the wrong problem
2. Panasonic announces compact digital camera capable of shooting
3D photos and videos
3. Lytro Website
4. LinkedIn.com
5. Wikipedia.org
6. Raytrix Website
7. Can Lytro bring light.field camera to the masses ?
8. Lytro’s Light Field Camera gets torndown, reveals WiFi, Bluetooth
capabilities
9. What is the Light field camera from Lytro good for ?
10. FCC Test Report
11. Marvell Avastar 88W8787 SoC
12. 2012 Outlook on the Shipment Forecast by Product-Type
Concerning Cameras and Related Goods
13. http://www.cellular-news.com/story/47245.php
14. Panasonic Lumix DMC 3D1
15. Did Apple want to include Lytro tech in iPhone camera?
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