Case Study

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Agenda
Company Overview

Product Offering

Technology

Market

Management

SWOT Analysis

Competition

USPs

Potential Buyers

References
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 Company Overview
Formerly known as Refocus Imaging, Inc. ,company was founded
by Dr. Ren Ng in 2006
Company is based on founders 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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 Product Offering
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
8GB;
Except for the memory and color , Graphite;$399
it is one basic product with no
options on resolution or display 8GB; Electric 16GB; Red
Blue; $399 Hot; $499
front.
No video recording
Light
Only two levels of focus
Field
Product catalog doesnt mention Camera
resolution of the light field picture
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 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

Image Source: Lytro.com

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 Market Million Units Sold

Digital Still Camera (DSC) (101.6% YoY change)

118
117
116
115
114
2011 2012
Itemized Break up
Interchangeable Lens Cameras (116.6% Built-In Lens Cameras (99.2% YoY
YoY change) change)
20 100
18 99.5
16 99
14 98.5
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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 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 entrepreneurship

and innovation
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 SWOT Analysis
Strength
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 its faster
to click snaps
Weakness
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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Opportunities
Untapped 3D still and video market
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
Threats
Declining DSC sales
Raytrixs custom lightfield microlens
array for DSCs
Increasing smart phone sale
Improvements in image sensor
technology for cell phones
Dual lens technology for DSCs
 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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 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 Raytrixs 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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 Potential Buyers
Apart from technological know how and IP in an exciting new technology Lytro doesnt have
sales/tangible assets to add value to shareholders or generate synergies.

Vertical Merger Horizontal Merger

Possible Value addition/Synergy: Possible Value addition/Synergy:
To acquire IP, patents and technological To acquire IP, patents and technological
know how, following phone manufacturers know how, following camera manufacturers
can acquire Lytro: can acquire Lytro:
1. Apple 1. Panasonic
2. Samsung 2. Samsung
3. Nokia 3. Nikon
4. RIMM 4. Canon

Adding a new dimension to phone cameras
might be timely as high MP may not stay a
selling point for phones too.
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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Samsung has double reason to acquire Lytro,
for its camera as well as phone product lines.
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.
 References
1. Lytro: Its 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. Lytros 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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