Nexian Using OMNIVISION CameraChip™ Solutions for NexiCam Digital Cameras, Designed for Use with HP iPAQ Pocket PC
SAN JOSE, CA — July 15, 2002 — OMNIVISION Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: OVTI), a market-leading independent supplier of CMOS CameraChip™ solutions for high-volume imaging applications, today announced it is providing its color CameraChips™ for Nexian, Inc.’s latest handheld computing accessory, the NexiCam. The NexiCam, announced earlier this year at the CES show in Las Vegas, was developed exclusively for the HP iPAQ Pocket PC PDA. OMNIVISION’s OV8610 color SVGA (800 x 600 resolution) CameraChip™ enables the NexiCam, when linked directly to the iPAQ, to turn the Pocket PC device into a digital still and video camera.
“Personal digital assistants are ideal platforms for CameraChip™-enabled accessories because they have the processing, storage and display capabilities to make them into a convenient, yet powerful, camera platform,” said John Lynch, vice president of sales and marketing for OMNIVISION. “Nexian’s recently announced NexiCam does a superb job of bringing this functionality to the PDA market and further validates our belief that digital camera technologies will be deployed virtually everywhere a processor can be found.”
“We selected OMNIVISION’s CameraChip™ solutions because their products provide excellent color resolution and can meet the stringent requirements of video conferencing and image capture for mobile business computing,” said Sang Ho Son, chairman of Nexian. “OMNIVISION’s easy design-in, single-chip offering provided a low-power, reliable solution, making OMNIVISION an ideal choice for Nexian’s NexiCam.”
Announced in February, 2001, OMNIVISION’s OV8610 is a color image sensor for applications requiring a higher resolution than competing VGA-resolution cameras. Such applications include cameras designed for PCs, security, home entertainment and the digital still camera market, as well as bar code readers, biometrics, automotive and medical instruments. The OV8610 and its black-and-white counterpart, the OV8110, provide SVGA (800 x 600) resolution, digital output, 1/3-inch lens format and operate on 3.3 volts. The combination of high resolution and low-power consumption enables many new opportunities for small, handheld, battery-powered camera applications. OMNIVISION additionally offers its advanced camera-to-USB bridge, the OV518+, as a companion to these products, enabling a low-cost, highly integrated USB camera system without the need for external dynamic random access memory (DRAM).
The NexiCam is a self-standing attachment, providing up to 45-seconds of digital video recording that is useful for business meetings and presentations. Additional features include a Compact Flash (CF) expansion slot, a user-configurable self-timer and the ability to store pictures to the iPAQ’s main memory or a separate CF memory card. The NexiCam is manufactured in the same durable material as the HP iPAQ for an integrated look and to withstand the demands of mobile computing. The NexiCam for the HP iPAQ Pocket PC is available for manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $199.99 through major retailers and e-tailers nationwide including www.mobileplanet.com, Office Depot and Best Buy.
Pricing and Availability
OMNIVISION’s OV8610 and OV8110 image sensors are currently available in production volumes. Pricing is $9.50 for the color OV8610 and $8.25 for the black-and-white OV8110 in 100K quantities. Please contact OMNIVISION via e-mail at sales@ovt.com or by visiting our Website at www.ovt.com.
About OMNIVISION
OMNIVISION Technologies, Inc. is an independent CameraChip™ solutions provider. Utilizing proprietary design technology for its highly integrated still-photo and video camera solutions for high-volume imaging applications, OMNIVISION integrates multiple image processing and capture functions into a single CameraChip™ design. With the addition of only a lens, the result is a low-cost CameraChip™ that consumes less power, has a greater environmental functioning range and has a smaller footprint than competing multi-chip image sensor solutions. OMNIVISION’s CameraChip™ solutions are in cell phones, personal digital assistants, automobiles and industrial machine vision applications, as well as surveillance and biometric security applications. OMNIVISION is based in Sunnyvale, California. For more information about the company, visit our Website at www.ovt.com.
About Nexian, Inc.
Nexian, Inc. (http://www.nexian.com) is a leader in international mobile communications providing specialized solutions in navigation, communications and business productivity tools for the handheld computer marketplace. With manufacturing and R&D headquarters in Korea and North American operations in San Diego, California, Nexian’s technology roots have been in the development and manufacturing of GPS systems for government and private sector use. In late 2001, Nexian worked closely with then Compaq (now HP), to manufacture and distribute the NexiCam exclusively for the iPAQ. In addition to the NexiCam, Nexian manufactures the HandyGPS™ and HandyGPS Pro™ for the Palm computing platform and the NexiPak™ dual CF expansion pack for the HP iPAQ. For more information about Nexian, visit www.nexian.com.
OMNIVISION and CameraChip™ are trademarks of OMNIVISION Technologies, Inc. All other trade, product or service names referenced in this release may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
Certain statements in this press release, including statements regarding OMNIVISION’s belief that digital camera technologies will be deployed virtually everywhere a processor can be found, are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties, which could cause the forward looking statements and OMNIVISION’s results to differ materially, include, without limitation: the growth of the market for digital camera technologies; the continued economic downturn, particularly in the semiconductor area, and the other risks detailed from time to time in OMNIVISION’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports, including, but not limited to, OMNIVISION’s annual reports filed on form 10-K and its quarterly reports filed on form 10-Q. OMNIVISION disclaims any obligation to update information contained in any forward-looking statement.