Thomas Eriksson
Analyst · Mike Malouf of Craig-Hallum Capital
Hello, I will talk about the important milestones, which took place for the company over the last few months. I will cover the success in our automotive business, update you on our sensor model business and of course discuss the pinnacle milestone in starting AirBar production. The future of the car, it’s rapidly changing, so that a car is becoming a sensor aware interactive vehicle where multiple sensors are needed for interaction and control. We have developed technology to meet these new requirements for the automotive market and it's very exciting to be working with the largest and most respected automotive players to bring new technologies to the market. Firstly, I'm excited to report that our automotive business has grown by over 500 per cent compared to the same time last year. We expect our customers to produce more than 1.3 million cars during 2016 and during the first quarter we added four new cars with the Ssangyong XLV, the Buick Regal, the Buick Envision, and the Buick GM 858. These new additions give us a total of 30 cars launched with our technology. The commitment from our customers to our technology is solid proof that our automotive offerings are among the best and most competitive in the market place. We continue to build a solid foundation for growth. In addition to infotainment touch displays, we are expanding into new automotive applications including gesture based input, door handle sensors, tailgate sensors, and of course our DRIVE steering wheel sensor. In addition, we're working with partners to integrate eye tracking functionality to our sensor modules. I can say that there is tremendous interest and development activity with global OEMs where we see large market opportunities with our existing and new customers. We can see the day where millions of car owners will be able to say may zForce be with you. And now I'd like to move over to our sensor module business. We have taken our solutions and integrated them into compact high performance multi-chip modules. I'd like to remind you why our module strategy is important. First, we believe it will increase our revenue and profit. Second it's easier to integrate a module than doing a full custom design, which means reduced time to market for our customers. Third, it provides a platform to incorporate other technologies and sensors. But finally, our module business strengthens our competitive advantage and gives us control over a greater part of the value chain. We have, with our Automotive qualified manufacturing partner, build a state of the art fully automated production facility in Gothenburg, the automotive manufacturing hub in Sweden. This facility will be able to produce automotive qualified modules and also supply modules for our consumer electronic businesses like AirBar. With our module being fully Automotive qualified, we will be able to supply sensors directly to Automotive OEMs and tier one suppliers and thus gaining a strong hold into value chain. For our consumer business such as printers and e-readers, we are working with our customers to supply them with complete sensor modules and transcission them from pure licensing business. We expect our printer customers to begin using our modules in 2017. Now for some insight into our technology platform direction, we have taken steps to increase the range of our offering from just tough and gesture sensing to include eye tracking. We entered into a Joint Venture with the high-end Swedish based eye tracking company called Smart Eye. By combining our technologies we plan to bring multi-chip modules to the market for the consumer and automotive segments that provides new opportunities for interaction with cars and devices. Finally, I am going to update you on our highly anticipated AirBar product. AirBar is our first complete consumer electronics device and is designed to touch-enable non-touch notebooks. I am very happy to say that we have started initial production of AirBar and expect to start shipping to customers in the second quarter. The number of preorders received on the AirBar website (www.air.bar) is now more than 17,000 units, and we will start converting them to firm orders in May. AirBar is an aftermarket accessory for PCs that will be sold to consumers through global retail channels. We have signed distribution agreements for Europe and United States with the largest technology distributor Ingram Micro. Ingram is the strategic partner for Neonode globally with new agreements being finalized for Asia, India and China in the coming months. The rollout for AirBar for the U.S. and European customers then India followed by the rest of the world. Ingram will address all key retails including Amazon, Best Buy, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Office Depot, Walmart and many more. Online sales will be our first channel to market with all the key retailers. We are working with Ingram and our customers to build a backlog of orders during the second quarter with projected shipments into third quarter. And now I’ll like to move over to Lars for a financial update.