https://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/the-rise-and-fall-of-qualcomm-mirasol-e-readers
9 replies (most recent on top)
So did they realize the re is no chance to succeed at all, or just closed the cash loss flow with impatience?
The Mirasol and Pix division ran in a constant startup mode. Many people worked long hours and traveled constantly between SD, SJ, and TW, etc. The group moved in what seemed like a panic from one idea to the next; chasing potential markets and just the right customers that could put up with a display technology that would give you maybe some parts and never more than some limited promised production. Group leaders struggling for years to keep the group from being closed. Probably exaggerated to keep their jobs. Maybe a few billion spent on the fab. But QC just gave Nxpi 2 billion for nothing.
The group switched the color pixel technology at one point and brought in a new team that had to make lots of the same mistakes already made by the first guys. This is just another one of the many promising display technologies left behind on the ash heap of display history. The engineers and display professionals just move on to the next venture.
At least Paul tried and he cared about the people at Q. The current exec team is the worst on the planet.
1zik is partially correct. The yields were poor, especially for larger (cellphone) size screens. The bigger issue is that color rendering was pastel-like rather than vivid. Speed was ok as I understand. QC acquired a second company, Pixtronics, in an attempt to address Mirasol shortcomings. Pixtronix had good color rendering but slower speed, and the “blending” of the two technologies never seemed to happen. Meanwhile, the Mirasol management seemed to not be focused on QC products, but rather on their own outside interests. QC top management didn’t seem to hold the San Jose group accountable for results, thus a huge outflow of unrecovered $ for too many years. Other local groups could see the excesses of spending as pretty ridiculous, but upper management in SD seemed to be blind to all of this.
We should ask management to take a learned lesson from all m & a failure.
It failed because the yield of usable screens from production was not great enough.
How many times have I wished for a mirasol display when trying to view my smart phone screen outdoors? Why did it never make it to market? Is it a big cost adder? Too much power consumption? Does anyone actually know why it flopped?
QC culture is so toxic, you can only realize after leaving this radioactive, pyro, acidic sinkhole
Guyz, leave this company, please. I am saying this because I think you deserve to be happy.
Just another 1 of 60+ acquisitions the company has made and destroyed by failing to integrate effectively and/or losing patience. Take a closer look at Qualcomm's list of acquisitions and you'll see most of them were failures. Good thing the NXP acquisition didn't go through; it would have been a costly mistake. Qualcomm could learn a few lessons from some diversified holding companies.