Mobile phones project growth on a bigger screen

(CNN) -- Cafe dwellers are used to the sight of road warriors bobbing their heads and peering between legs in search of power outlets for their laptop computers. But in the near future they might be mystified by a strange new behavior: the search for a smooth, uncluttered wall.

That's because micro-projectors are working their way toward store shelves -- and the innards of cell phones -- in many parts of the world. Whether built-in or stand-alone, the tiny projectors will cast a larger version of whatever it is you don't feel like squinting at on the inadequate screen of your cell phone or other device.

That could mean downloaded movies or TV shows, or simply a video recorded with your cell phone. It could also mean pictures, perhaps a slideshow of them. Or a sales presentation. Or a Word document. The list goes on.

Whether this is a good thing is debatable. Those who already find it aggravating to listen to other people's conversations probably won't care for their vacation slideshows, either.

And "we're already seeing backlash against road warriors who monopolize the choice cafe seats near the power outlet," notes Daniel Scuka, co-founder of Mobile Monday Tokyo, a wireless industry networking group. "Will projector-display users monopolize choice seats beside a piece of clear wall?"

That remains to be seen, but plenty of smart money is betting these projectors will find an audience.

By the end of this year in South Korea, SK Telecom should be selling stand-alone micro-projectors made by a company called Iljin Display. By the end of next year it plans to be selling cell phones with the projectors built in.

In the United States, meanwhile, Motorola is working with a company called Microvision to accomplish something similar, and other efforts are under way in Asia, North America and Europe.

Of course, much will depend on how good the projection is, but already "the image quality of these micro projectors can be impressive considering their size," notes Aloysius Choong, an analyst with research firm IDC, who's seen a few prototypes in action. Future generations will only get better.

This might be bad news for the massage industry.

"Ergonomics are a key selling point" of these projectors, says Scuka. Instead of hunching painfully over their laptops, bloggers and such could project their screens at a more ergonomically correct height on a wall in front of them. (Though in public spaces that could mean anyone being able to easily read your work.)

Some shoulder-strained road warriors might replace their heavy laptop with a PDA-phone, collapsible keyboard and micro-projector.

But finding wall space will be a pain. "I for one don't have a clear bit of wall space that is within easy viewing distance of my desk and keyboard," notes Scuka. "A laptop or a PC display can sit nicely on top of, well, anything."

An even bigger drawback could be battery consumption.

Iljin Display claims that its stand-alone projector, to be marketed as Blueye in South Korea, will last for at least 90 minutes on one charge. So forget watching a movie, unless you bring the included power cord. (In which case you can enjoy up to a 30-inch [76 cm] projection in the dark, or 10 to 20 inches [25 cm to 51 cm] in brighter conditions, over a long period.)

Battery drain becomes even more problematic when the projectors are built in to cell phones, where they also threaten to add more complexity for users. And the long-term durability and reliability of these projectors have yet to be proven.

"Convergence is the byword of the mobile industry, but it doesn't always work," notes Choong. "I'm struggling to find a compelling argument for incorporating the feature into a line of mobile phones."

He notes that full-size projectors are already entrenched in board rooms, and argues that in casual settings users are more likely to share a notebook display than transfer files and set up a phone projector.

But, he concedes, they might be useful to door-to-door sales people or consumers who want to share pictures with friends. The questions is whether those markets are big enough for cell phone makers to justify building the projectors into their phones now.

Choong argues it makes more sense to offer the projector as a wireless accessory with its own battery pack.

Then again, few predicted the massive popularity of camera-phones, but manufacturers did well by making them extremely easy to use. So don't be surprised if the sight of teenage girls giggling over projected pictures soon becomes commonplace. (Or if makers of full-size projectors take a hit, at least on the low end.)

And as for all you cafe dwellers, you have been warned. E-mail to a friend