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Apple Reportedly Has Small Team Working on Augmented Reality Projects

lewisd25 said:
Augmented reality won't be successful if the user has to wear a device on their head. When the day comes that a computerized system could be small enough to be integrated into contact lenses...only then will augmented reality take off.
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I think it's tricky but not impossible to get people to want to wear a device on their head. (I mean widely, not just some people.)

Proof?

They already do: glasses, sun glasses.

Don't mistake what went down with Google Glass as an inevitable outcome. That was just a tech demo. I think the message got away from them (due in large part to their own actions), and many people started to get the impression it was supposed to be a real product. When it fell far short of that, there was a backlash. My point is, it doesn't have to happen like that.

Due to technology limitations, I think a smart device with a glasses form-factor is going to become widespread quite a bit sooner than something like a smart contact lens does.
 
LordVic said:
yes! get on it! I love the very concept of AR! So excited for Microsoft HoloLens, The more companies working on this sort of tech the better for all our futures!

Just don't make this "for iPhone only"
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I am with you on the MS HoloLens and it would be nice to see what Apple can do in this arena.
 
I also bet Apple has a small team working on a 3D printer. They're the biggest company in the world with a reputation for being innovative and notoriously secretive. Of course they have a small team working on augmented reality wearables—and lots of other emerging technologies. The difference is they don't launch things until they feel they can add something meaningful that lots of people can actually use and enjoy.
 
HenryDJP said:
I 100% disagree. There's no "perfect" time for innovation. What would be the point in stifling production of an idea? Don't take this the wrong way but thank heavens you're not heading off Apple, Google or any other major company. New ideas need to be pumped out ASAP.
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Agreed. Google released Glass at exactly the right time.

Glass was only ever meant to be an experimental beta-test of sorts. Google learned on very important thing that can only be learned by public use of a product... people without Glass didn't want to be tracked or filmed.

That is one vital lesson that every tech company can now use when developing their products.
 
oh ya sure, this looks much more practical than wearing Google Glass. :p

If Apple actually want's to do something in the meantime, why don't they come out with own own cardboard version of Google, but for iOS.

At least this way, users will be able to tinker with the possibilities instead of trying to get Google's one to work with third party iOS apps.
 
interesting that he mentions augmented reality being consumer friendly 'in about a decade'.. with google glass already out and oculus' crescent bay due in a year or two, this makes me think he's milking the apple 'don't be impatient a deliver quality' credo a little too hard here. enter the fray once in while. especially in this category - i think it could be the one that changes everything, including tech industry dominance. or at least shift it massively.
 
D.T. said:
I'd say that Google - by design - lightly stepped into this space knowing they were ahead of any critical mass, it was a tech trial more than anything.



Definitely. We've had conversations with MS, Sony, Oculus, and they are full-steam-ahead. The hardware is looking amazing too: major players and even "smaller" companies building some VR/AR gear that is pretty mind blowing (a number of NDAs prevent any specific disclosure on my part, just think glasses vs. goggles, massively increased rendering power in a highly reduced package size).

If anyone attended GDC this year, it was pretty clear the amount of momentum in the VR space (heading towards consumer adoption).

:cool:
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Funny you should say "full-steam-ahead", as the Steam/HTC VR solution seemed to be the most talked about and impressive demo at GDC this year. Out of interest, if you were there, did you get to try it?
 
samcraig said:
I look forward to Apple releasing their augmented reality hardware and everyone debating who did it first, who made it popular and who makes the most money off of it.

Oh good times lie ahead, MR.
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Apple invented the Modern Augmented Reality wearable in 10 years time , just like the iWatch.
 
ztao said:
Is it just me, or does Gene Muster finally stop talking about TV?
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I think he started talking about the Apple TV when the Munsters was actually on Television, he is not a Soothsayer, he is an Apple Stooge.
 
These kind of glasses are probably every video game junkie's dream. A HUD in real life. So we aren't too far away from "Siri, what does the scouter say about his power level?!"

I'm not a video game junkie, though. I wouldn't ever wear something like this in public.
 
samcraig said:
I look forward to Apple releasing their augmented reality hardware and everyone debating who did it first, who made it popular and who makes the most money off of it.

Oh good times lie ahead, MR.
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Augmented reality is just an app. ;)
 
macduke said:
I also bet Apple has a small team working on a 3D printer. They're the biggest company in the world with a reputation for being innovative and notoriously secretive. Of course they have a small team working on augmented reality wearables—and lots of other emerging technologies. The difference is they don't launch things until they feel they can add something meaningful that lots of people can actually use and enjoy.
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A bit like Samsung, they let everybody do the hard yards and then they claim they invented it.
 
iamkarlp said:
Assuming the article is correct... I'm glad they have no intentions of doing anything soon and they aren't aggressively pushing for anything either.

Google released far-to-early in the product development lifecycle, as I believe they are coming to readily admit.

Microsoft has a very interesting product, however both it's strength and weakness is that it is not intended for general every-day use so much as a tool to solve specific problems at both home and work.

It's a space that will likely take another 4 to 5 years to even understand, much-less design a marketable product for.

Patience is a virtue.

Karl P
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The space is easy to understand and the utility obvious. The issues are technical. Rather than a decade, I think we're only a couple years out.

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AlecZ said:
These kind of glasses are probably every video game junkie's dream. A HUD in real life. So we aren't too far away from "Siri, what does the scouter say about his power level?!"

I'm not a video game junkie, though. I wouldn't ever wear something like this in public.
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I predict you will. And probably within 5 years, certainly within the decade. Of course, you could be the outlier, I bet we all know people who don't have a smart phone yet, but you're on a tech blog which makes me skeptical. The thing is, you'll need AR for work too, though.

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teslo said:
interesting that he mentions augmented reality being consumer friendly 'in about a decade'.. with google glass already out and oculus' crescent bay due in a year or two, this makes me think he's milking the apple 'don't be impatient a deliver quality' credo a little too hard here. enter the fray once in while. especially in this category - i think it could be the one that changes everything, including tech industry dominance. or at least shift it massively.
Click to expand...

I'm right with you. AR will have a bigger immediate impact than anything since television. The Internet took a good deal of time to reach where we are, this will explode like the smartphone market. I'd be shocked if Apple doesn't have 100's of people at least working on this--they are fools if they don't, and I don't think they are.

AR is on the cusp, and it really will change humanity. We literally will never have to remember someone's name, every interaction will be recorded forever, we'll need whole new conceptions of what privacy means...or if it really exists at all. The implications can't even be grasped today.
 
alvindarkness said:
Funny you should say "full-steam-ahead", as the Steam/HTC VR solution seemed to be the most talked about and impressive demo at GDC this year. Out of interest, if you were there, did you get to try it?
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Hey, sorry, missed this! There was a bunch of PMs, etc. in my notifications, when you quoted me, just got lost.

I did not get any hands on, just chatted up some folks about it, there was a lot of "selling" to potential devs/content creators/artists to adopt various platforms. My partner did get to try it, from his email to other folks in our group:

"SteamVR is currently absolute top of the line. Its kind of like audiophile vs. consumer. Its corner-to-corner full room VR, freeing players from the camera frustrum of Oculus, Sony, et al. That said, you need a *clear* room to play it with. Shins hitting coffee tables suck..."

We're going to be back out in SF as a followup to some of our efforts at GDC, pretty excited. :cool:
 
how small is this team? do they sit on high-chairs and drink from sippy cups?
 
tevion5 said:
To enable people to live in a reality where the Apple Watch is worth buying.
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Omg this aged like milk. “Can you imagine an Apple Watch being worth a damn?” Sees in their description they have an Apple Watch

oh boy
 

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