As a minor sidenote on licensing in general: entering the graphics market as it is today isn't by far easy. Large companies f.e. semiconductors are aware of the time/resources/efforts and filed red numbers for a specific period of time it takes to enter the graphics market.
As things are today I have severe doubts that for a newcomer reaching a break-even-point can be done in less than let's say 2 years. Even then success isn't guaranteed which increases the total risk involved and would make large companies think more than just twice to dip a toe in the water especially if Orca killer wales like ATI/NV are lurking in the deep (errr...how's that as a metaphore hm?
).
In the case of Matrox, it hardly makes any difference whether they develop their own technology or license it after all. The above risk is the same.
It gets even more critical to convince any kind of potential licensee in cases like Bitboys OY (outside of those that already had been under negotiations) IMHO, when there has been no hardware released. Opportunities are there will start to get a lot better for them, while entering the PDA/mobile market. Granted it's a totally different market with entirely different rules and measures, yet it does favour IP licensing business schemes. If they manage to file a success there, they might start thinking in the future of expanding to other markets too.
Former Videologic today Imagination Technologies are already showing versatility in IP/SoC sollutions supplied and that for more than just a handful of markets. In fact the acquisition of Ensigma and the separation of Metagence as a subdivision of it's own seem to help things even more and PureDigital seems to start gaining quite a lot in brand value when it comes to DABs for instance. In the past they used to work on let's say one design and I think that right now about 18 designs are under development.
Anyway what the PC graphics standalone market concerns I have severe doubts that it will be that easy to see a real 3rd contender there any time soon. Cutting off a few sales persentages here and there or making one minor success once in a blue moon doesn't mean much to me. Bitboys though has a fine chance to build on the back of the Acceleon, whether that would be future PDA/mobile sollutions development, or expanding to other markets where IP is equally important.
As far as all the small players goes, what I absolutely cannot stand is the constant mega-hype I can see in more than one occassions. Deliver on time, reach your initially set targets and if then your business prospects start to grow you can eventually adopt bold PR crap. If you're selling only IP then the real hype should come actually from the licensee and NOT from the IP provider.
More simply put: Put Up or Shut Up (and that's by far not only refering to just the release; let's see if it really can stick up to the competition first).
Did I mention that all the above is all IMHO?
