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Apple Reportedly Moving Into 'Second Phase' of AR Glasses Development [Updated]

_Refurbished_ said:
Not sure why they’re going after a market that hasn’t shown any interest from the general public. Tim Cook has always had a soft spot for AR, but it’s never going to be more than a niche product.
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How can you say that? There's literally no AR glasses as a commercial product that have a good resolution and a small and lightweight form factor.

If you are referring to Google Glasses, that was literally a first of its kind prototype device that never went mainstream. To say people are not interested in AR because Google Glass failed is foolish.

With that logic,
I guess iPad's won't be popular because people made tablets before and they weren't popular.
Everyone has stopped wearing watches so Apple Watch will be a fail too.
Oh....

AR isn't popular currently because the technology isn't there to make it useful.

And for the rumours of Apple making a VR headset.
The Quest is doing very well. If Apple make a Quest copy and don't really even improve on it, it will be an instant hit.
As long as the device has a decent App store, it will kick ass.
 
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_Refurbished_ said:
Not sure why they’re going after a market that hasn’t shown any interest from the general public. Tim Cook has always had a soft spot for AR, but it’s never going to be more than a niche product.
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The reason AR is niche is that it requires a dorky headset. Apple’s eventual goal is clearly normal-looking glasses.
 
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Sam Squanch said:
It's two different products, the "Occulus Rift" type will compete with current VR headsets that are made for in-home/business use. Whereas, from my understanding, the glasses will be for walking the streets etc as well as being stylish and look as close to "just a pair of glasses" as possible.

So, no... no one will be walking around with a big bulky thing attached to their face.
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People are really struggling to grasp this concept.
 
cmaier said:
The reason AR is niche is that it requires a dorky headset. Apple’s eventual goal is clearly normal-looking glasses.
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Would glasses like in the picture be any good for gaming, or would that take another headset-like device? I don't really game much beyond solitaire.
 
As someone who is using and enjoying the second generation Amazon Echo Frames I am really interested in Apple's plans for Apple Glasses. I'm sure they will come up with something far better than Echo frames. From a accessibility point of view Apple glasses have huge potential, I have never been able to pick up a phone and take a photo but can quite imagine being able to take a photo of the world that I see from my wheelchair with nothing more than a Siri voice command, (without taking for granted Apple would opt to include a camera in the glasses for privacy reasons but it may be nice if it did). That would be a first for me. It's also very interesting that it may allow users to be able to read messages and see maps. I find wearing Amazon's Echo Frames preferable to wearing wireless earbuds. Just hope Apple fulfils the exciting accessibility potential of Apple Glasses, there are certainly very many. They could be a game changer for some people who are unable to pick up and interact with a phone screen.
 
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I'm sure they are working on stuff like this. I still can't see it coming out because I don't see the mass market purpose.

I just see a hobbyist type of product. NOt that Apple doesn't release hi-end expensive products. Maybe this will be that I guess if it comes out. Mac Pro. Apple monitor. Apple glasses. Apple monitor stand. Apple wheels.
 
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Astounding to me that people can't see the market potential of a successful version of these products. To wear glasses that provide a HUD with useful information without having to check your phone or watch... isn't this every person's dream? WHEN Apple successfully pulls this off, it will make the iPhone look like an antiquated device we can't remember ever needing. I mean... the potential of this is utterly unfathomable. Driving directions. Contextual information about something you're looking at. Guided IKEA assembly. Replacing every face you see on the street with an emoji. If you don't see the potential, you've never played a video game.
 
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It strikes me that AirPods may have first and foremost been intended as a trial balloon for the glasses project, and secondarily, a surprise runaway hit in their own right.

Apple has entered a new phase in which they seek to create and define nascent markets (watch, true wireless headset, glasses) and running out of established markets in which to make their footprint (smartphone, netbooks, tablet).
 
johnmarki said:
I really hope this is a product that can supplement, or replace, my prescription eyewear. I'd love to throw my glasses on, slip on the watch, toss my phone in my pocket, and have them all work in unison! It would also be beneficial if they could interact with other Apple products or Services. (ie. The glasses bring up certain menus, or options when facing my MacBook Pro, or Apple TV) No matter how "beta" or advanced the initial product is, I will jump on board.
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Since Tim Cook wears glasses, I bet they would be able to be Rx. I don't think he would disregard that segment of the populace
 
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dwaltwhit said:
Since Tim Cook wears glasses, I bet they would be able to be Rx. I don't think he would disregard that segment of the populace
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Even better would be tunable-focus lenses for adaptive glasses. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Apple is looking into this through R&D, though commercial realization would be a ways out there. That would be huge.
 
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Paul_a said:
Astounding to me that people can't see the market potential of a successful version of these products. To wear glasses that provide a HUD with useful information without having to check your phone or watch... isn't this every person's dream? WHEN Apple successfully pulls this off, it will make the iPhone look like an antiquated device we can't remember ever needing. I mean... the potential of this is utterly unfathomable. Driving directions. Contextual information about something you're looking at. Guided IKEA assembly. Replacing every face you see on the street with an emoji. If you don't see the potential, you've never played a video game.
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Totally agree.
However such tech can also take a very dark turn to a Black Mirror ep.
 
If they don’t release a Special Edition version then they will miss out on the branding of the Apple A(ugmented) R(eality) S(pecial) E(dition). People will exclaim .. “Hey ... see that bloke with the A.R.S.E glasses? Doesn’t he look a right ar ...tist in them!”😎
 
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This is going to be such a dumb product. Hasn’t google pretty much abandoned this idea?

Then again, I thought the Apple Watch was a stupid product and people buy those things in droves (still have no idea why).
 
Not sure why Apple is bothering with this product. Apple is meant to be a consumer orientated company/products. Consumer market (the biggest market), Enterprise (large but Apple is not bothered about enterprise products), Niche market (a small market no matter what your product/service is), Hobbyist market (even smaller market than Niche). Every company that has launched these type of products, have failed. Can't see Apple succeeding. Limited uses, warehousing, labour intensive manufacturing etc. No one likes to put something on their head, not even glasses to read.
 
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AlexESP said:
The potential is clear, if “no one” has shown any interest it’s because nothing with AR has been useful so far. But I’m pretty sure it will be bigger than the Watch, and maybe the iPad, it’s a totally new category, and Apple is very good at that.
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You had me laughing at “maybe the iPad”.

I don’t think the potential is clear. I think it’s vaporware for the general masses. It’s an idealistic vision of the future that the general public will reject, due the limitations of having to wear a device. If you “already” wear glasses, I can see why computerized glasses would spark interest. People aren’t going to suddenly wear glasses so they can see the wait time at Outback Steakhouse.
 
Robospungo said:
This is going to be such a dumb product. Hasn’t google pretty much abandoned this idea?

Then again, I thought the Apple Watch was a stupid product and people buy those things in droves (still have no idea why).
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Google's was severely constrained, lacking in imagination, realization, and potential use possibilities, with AR being just one example.

I'm sure executives at Motorola, Ericsson, and Nokia (commonly referred to as MEN in the wireless telecom industry) had a good chuckle when Apple released its iPhone in 1997. Where are MEN now?
 
I’m actually over saying “hey Siri” to make requests and I wish there was a shorter keyword we could use to precede our request that activates the mic or something else intuitive like the apple watche’s auto-Siri upon holding up the watch to your mouth. Saying “Hey Siri” to your glasses would seem out of place with a product like that, hopefully there’s a gesture or easy method to start the requests.

On a side point I really wish they would give Siri some context memory when giving follow up requests. I always find myself asking long loaded requests because when I try to make a small additional request she has no idea what we were just talking about.
 
insomniac86 said:
If you are referring to Google Glasses, that was literally a first of its kind prototype device that never went mainstream. To say people are not interested in AR because Google Glass failed is foolish.
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My roommate got a pair. He liked them. I thought they seemed cool too, until he took a photo or me and my daughter, while he was sitting across the dinner table from me, without me realizing it. Then I just thought they were creepy as F.

I don't know how Apple plans to address this, but until they do they're worse than DOA for me. They're not just non-interesting, they're actively disinteresting.
 
thejadedmonkey said:
My roommate got a pair. He liked them. I thought they seemed cool too, until he took a photo or me and my daughter, while he was sitting across the dinner table from me, without me realizing it. Then I just thought they were creepy as F.

I don't know how Apple plans to address this, but until they do they're worse than DOA for me. They're not just non-interesting, they're actively disinteresting.
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So you can work around this by using LiDAR instead of an optical camera. If someone took a dot matrix snapshot of me and my son, I wouldn’t give a ****. As a dot matrix wouldn’t have the resolution required to identify anyway. FaceID has many more dots requiring a very near field scan.

I believe the LiDAR that we will see will be very low res. Enough to capture a wall, table, building etc.
 
macduke said:
A tiny CPU with a chonky battery if it's having to wirelessly transmit dual 4K90+ video streams to each eye (there were rumors a few years ago talking about 8K for this so 4K seems reasonable and 90fps is needed to help prevent motion sickness as a minimum).
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You are describing VR headset, like Oculus.

AR glasses is more like HUD, where images are projected onto transparent glass.
 
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