Oxford Metrics Share Discussion Threads

[pug151] 14/8/2013 15:05

Target is the young well off leading 'interesting lives ' and keen to share experiences with others . The average pi is not going to want one - i don't - but there are quite a few out there who might.

[jackiewilson] 13/8/2013 13:21

Tie it to your cat or a child and post the amusing results on youtube? But make sure it doesn't lose it. Most of the reviews seem baffled as to what to do with the product. And based on his explanation in the vid I don't think Paul Mumford will be a user!

I sometimes think it is a solid strategy to buy the product and re-evaluate your shareholding. It's a variation of the Buffett thing of buying what you understand. And I don't understand the [purpose of] the Autographer; at all.

Good job their other tech is creative, advanced and valuable.

[mikecro2] 11/8/2013 20:18

I have just received my Autographer which I bought for evaluation purposes being a long time OMG shareholder. Delivers performance as promised except as yet only iPhone app available. Not sure what market will be worldwide for this product or what I am going to use it for. Certainly a clever product and simple to use but may need a killer application or a significant price reduction for mass sales. Might be useful for... recording family parties or at weddings, walking holidays or secretively photographing animals (eg birds nesting). Any suggestions!!

[pug151] 10/8/2013 23:00

Stephen fry has tweeted autographer very clever and exciting - i am getting more convinced

[cleverinvestor] 08/8/2013 20:05

View the video OMG mentioned

[pug151] 03/8/2013 08:32

Very interesting and generally positive review in the guardian on 31 july described autographer as seductive just wondering if i should add....

[pug151] 01/8/2013 09:40

I notice the second batch has sold out which i was not expecting

[games] 30/7/2013 13:02

not wholly convinced, and no idea how many units, but first batch sold out. hxxp://shop.autographer.com/

[cleverinvestor] 27/7/2013 10:36

Product video link (click explore - click product video)

[valustar1] 26/7/2013 11:23

orders now been taken for Autographer, for those who pre registered.

[gimeabreak] 25/7/2013 07:41

It'll take most of your spare time editing the 1000's of photo's that are not suitable for example the back of someones head mmmmm perfectly in focus mind you, how is a camera to know your preferences? Are you prepared to sift through hundreds of images just to get the 'That one' you want to me it's a rediculas idea 'coor blimey'

[cleverinvestor] 20/7/2013 13:32

Extract from Telegraph's article by Andrew Oxlade 8/7/13

......................................................................

Paul Mumford is a guru of smaller company shares. He has run the hugely successful Cavendish Opportunities fund for a quarter of a century and more recently the Cavendish Aim fund.

He told Telegraph Money of two companies raising capital on Aim that have caught his eye and which he will be backing. OMG, the Oxford Metrics Group, announced last week that it was looking to raise £9m for expansion. It makes an eclectic mix of technology products. Around 60 of its hi-tech cameras were recently used in the filming of the new zombie movie World War Z. But its cameras are also used by councils for taking pictures of roads and street furniture in an annual audit, providing a steady flow of income.

"The real reason I get quite excited about this one is that it has developed intelligent, wearable camera technology," said Mr Mumford. "It's the first camera in the world that's been made like that and will be sold exclusively through Amazon. Remember what happened when Amazon sold the Kindle exclusively?"

[gengulphus] 18/7/2013 14:57

Can anybody tell me/convince me what is the advantage of the autographer over a mobile phone/camera, really can't get my head around where the sales are going to come from, why did Microsoft give up th idea did they see a limited potential mmmmm. I would be concerned if in company with this gadget ones privacy and all that Who's taking my picture feel like big brother's watching LOL serious stuff.

The advantages are probably exactly the same things that you regard as disadvantages: it sits there unobtrusively snapping away, without requiring any attention from its user. For you, that suggests Big Brother; for someone else, it might suggest getting very natural, unposed pictures, or getting photographs even at times when their attention needs to be 100% on something else...

I.e. one man's meat is another's poison - and OMG can profit from those to whom Autographer is meat without corresponding losses from those to whom it is poison...

Gengulphus

[gengulphus] 18/7/2013 14:42

1. Is the autographer patented?

Cannot say with absolutely certain knowledge, but I would be absolutely amazed if there weren't patent applications in for various aspects of how it operates. It is probably a bit early yet for patents to have actually been granted, though it is possible for any sufficiently early inventions - the process typically takes around 3 years from application. (Note that if the patent is eventually granted, the protection it gives starts at the day of application, not the day of grant. I.e. no sidestepping the patent because it's still in the application process!)

Equally, patents can only be for inventions, i.e. new ways of doing things that no-one has used before, and that required at least a little bit of inspiration to come up with. So it's only going to be some aspects of how Autographer works that will be patented, not the whole thing... The key question is how essential those aspects are to Autographer as a product - i.e. could a just-as-good competing product from the customers' point of view be produced without using those aspects? If so, any patent protection will be weak; if not, the patent protection will be stronger, roughly in proportion to how much that competing product has to fall short of being just as good.

So for instance, if a patent on the invention of a camera that decides for itself when to take photos were possible, that would be quite powerful patent protection: it would basically be impossible to produce a camera that competes with Autographer and yet somehow wasn't deciding for itself when to take photos. I doubt very much though that such a patent is possible: it seems highly likely to me that somewhere in the world, quite possibly in a much more expensive application, someone has long ago produced some sort of camera that decides for itself when to take photos - and just one case of that is enough to say it's not a new thing being done, so not an invention and not patentable.

On the other hand, it would seem quite possible to me that Autographer might be using a different method to decide when to take its photos than anyone else has before. That method would be an invention and very likely a patentable invention. But it would only protect Autographer from competitors using the same method, not from competitors using a different method. So unless Autographer's method is intrinsically quite a bit better thsn those other methods, the patent protection would be quite weak...

In short, the question isn't so much whether Autographer has patent protection - it almost certainly does - but how well it is protected by that patent protection.

Gengulphus

[gimeabreak] 18/7/2013 14:15

Can anybody tell me/convince me what is the advantage of the autographer over a mobile phone/camera, really can't get my head around where the sales are going to come from, why did Microsoft give up th idea did they see a limited potential mmmmm. I would be concerned if in company with this gadget ones privacy and all that Who's taking my picture feel like big brother's watching LOL serious stuff.

[davidosh] 18/7/2013 00:36

spurberry.....I think you need to email the FD with a few of those questions !

Do let us know the reply

[spurberry] 17/7/2013 23:25

A few questions if I may.

1. Is the autographer patented?
2. Is it waterproof for rain etc?
3. How many do the company estimate on selling?
4. Is it available worldwide or just in the uk?
5. Have any security/government companies enquired about it?

Thanks in advance

[michaelmouse] 07/7/2013 20:24

hxxp://michae1mouse.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/omg-murray-wins-and-is-this-good-aim.html

Michael.

[valustar1] 06/7/2013 10:15

Thats a good way to put it.

And of course its the global market we are looking at.

Not long before they start getting firm UK sales!

[gengulphus] 06/7/2013 08:28

But I'm sure you know that whatever your own tastes about photography are, other people's tastes differ... I've very little doubt that some people will like what Autographer offers - the difficult questions are how many such people there are, and how they'll be divided up between Autographer and its competitors.

Gengulphus

[gimeabreak] 05/7/2013 22:51

I really have doubts about the Autographer who will really want one I ask myself there is such a e huge choice in ways of taking pictures today mind boggling every body has a mobile phone click click every where you go, get home reams of of boring pictures delete save save delete drives me up the wall not my cup of tea, a very limited market!!!!

[jackiewilson] 04/7/2013 09:00

What I find 'interesting' is that they already have 3 good businesses which few can compete against [witness today's announcement] but are pursuing the consumer market with a weird product. If they don't have advance orders it's commercial suicide; either way it will make a good case study in years to come, and OMG may get the excitement they seek.

[lignum] 03/7/2013 15:48

Yes - is it more of the same or a brand new beginning? Guess we won't know for a while and the market is just reflecting that uncertainty.

[gengulphus] 03/7/2013 15:16

Agreed that's one of the reasons for the fundraising, and yes, there's a decent case to be made for the product being popular enough to sell those quantities or indeed more. But I was trying to suggest why the market price has done what it has, which is fundamentally what you were asking about in post 911 above. Whether Autographer will prove a success and whether the company is right to be raising funds are good questions, but not the one I was talking about!

And incidentally, those other questions aren't ones I have any firm answers to. There is considerable uncertainty in my mind about whether Autographer will actually prove a success - new consumer gadgets are always a bit of a gamble in that respect - and the best I can say is that I rate its chances highly enough to regard it is a 'decent bet' plus point for the company. And on whether the fundraising and acquisition is the right course of action for the company, I really don't know - on such questions, I generally reckon I simply have to trust the management to have evaluated the acquisition far better than I, or else decide that no, I don't trust the management and get out.

Gengulphus