Apple Testing Augmented Reality 'Smart Glasses' That Connect to iPhone

[Mr Fusion]

If they can make them look like Ray-Bans or some other classic, timeless design, fine. Anything else, no thanks.

This is the key. Privacy concerns can be overcome. Hideous design cannot. Google Glass looks like a nerd's wet dream. If they can build the guts into an Oakley or Ray-Ban frame without ANY noticeable obtrusions that detract from the style, it would work. If they attempt another square watch face design failure where they choose function over form, forget it.

Virtual reality will be larger than augmented reality. People need an escape from this horrible reality, they don't need metrics confirming how miserable they truly are.

Agreed. A generation from now we'll all be jacked into a utopian version of the Matrix. Leave a few people unplugged to keep the power plants running and you'll have world peace.

 

[MacsRgr8]

Let's be honest, having AR on your glasses will be fun.
It is true AR as you are force to look "through" the AR. Gaming, navigation, spotting, etc. will become even more fun.

OTOH, like Google Glass..... how can you make this without people being ashamed to wear them..?
Or, could it be that only the early adopters will be ridiculed but after a few years everyone will have them (from Apple or not)?

 

[jtrauscht]

Ugh ... What on earth is going on with Apple? #notmyapple

 

[developer13245]

I would like mine in a monocle form factor, please. That way I can strut around like Mr Peanut, with a look of indignant consternation on the non-Apple iGlasses folks.

yeah, now we can all look like Jony Ive...

 

[sully54]

Let's be real here. Google glass didn't flop because of privacy concerns. It flopped because of the price. I'd be willing to bet that had it been priced lower, it would be this generation's iPhone.

Snapchat spectacles are going to be watched closely by Apple to see how people will receive them. Apple could go down the same path it did with Apple Watch by designing their AR glasses to be fashionable.

 

[Mac 128]

This is the key. Privacy concerns can be overcome. Hideous design cannot. Google Glass looks like a nerd's wet dream. If they can build the guts into an Oakley or Ray-Ban frame without ANY noticeable obtrusions that detract from the style, it would work. If they attempt another square watch face design failure where they choose function over form, forget it.


Agreed. A generation from now we'll all be jacked into a utopian version of the Matrix. Leave a few people unplugged to keep the power plants running and you'll have world peace.

Bingo. The iPhone has privacy concerns already. Putting a camera in a pair of glasses isn't going to change that.

Google Glass failed because it looked like a techno-nerds, cyborg wet dream.

There's a whole new generation of kids who are used to being photographed everywhere they go, and return the favor in kind. Cameras in glasses, particularly sunglasses, will be the hot ticket in a few years, assuming they're cool enough.

 

[Silver78]

Yes.. AR/VR will have a huge impact on the world.
play with this a while and it will change the way you think.

also we allready have cameras everywhere. if people want to film something they will ....AR glasses or not.

 

[farewelwilliams]

AppleWatch + Glasses + AirPods could be the 1-2-3 punch that gradually replaces the iPhone and sets Apple up for the next decade.

A full computer on your wrist and glasses that provide a place for larger visual information. AirPods in your ears for full time Siri interaction. That's all you need for a wearable computer environment.

except, how do you type in your password...?

 

[8692574]

contact lenses please.
thx

They are in talks with EPGLOBAL... and they makes just that !

 

[555gallardo]

Cook said, “We always thought that glasses were not a smart move, from a point of view that people would not really want to wear them. They were intrusive, instead of pushing technology to the background, as we’ve always believed.” He went on, “We always thought it would flop, and, you know, so far it has.”

That loudmouth also said 4" is the perfect display size.

 

[H2SO4]

Unlike those ugly Google glasses, Apple's copy will be nothing short of special for Apple's special community.

Remember the early mobile phones. Weren’t as sleek as they are now were they? Even Apples original was thick and clunky.

 

[stringent]

No GPS, not water proof, iPhone dependant ... Sounds like a previous product they released!

 

[ImNoSuperMan]

Only thing apple (even if rumored) I'm even remotely interested in anymore.

Except maybe macbooks (hopefully by the time I'm due for upgrading my current MBP, usb c only connectivity wont be as much of an issue anymore).

 

[plexdk]

Remember that Apple also copied the Windows Tablet, which was a failure.. and now their reinvention is a success.

The question is how they will execute it - they have to learn from google's mistake.
There is no way people will wear them unless they look 100% like real glasses - eventually make deals with RayBan, Ralph Lauren etc.

 

[dilbert99]

Now we know why they took so long to get the incremental MBP out and didn't have time to do the rest of the macs.

 

[hagar]

AppleWatch + Glasses + AirPods could be the 1-2-3 punch that gradually replaces the iPhone and sets Apple up for the next decade.

A full computer on your wrist and glasses that provide a place for larger visual information. AirPods in your ears for full time Siri interaction. That's all you need for a wearable computer environment.

You must be kidding right? Can you imagine walking down the street with those ridiculous airpod Q-tips dangling from your ears, high tech glasses (almost nobody that doesn't need to wear glasss, likes to wear glasses) and then talking to Siri on your wrist?? If that's the future, I pass. They surely will have to come up with something more discrete and elegant.

 

[crsh1976]

Google Glass was highly criticized because of privacy concerns

Oh bullocks, that isn't and never was the biggest issue with gGlass, it just didn't solve any problem and was thus a ridiculously cool but pointless piece of technology. Much like smart watches.

 

[diipii]

More evidence that Apple has forgotten computers.

 

[MisterK]

Microsoft's HoloLens is AR because it actually augments your scene by putting digital objects around your physical space. I've never understood why Google Glass was called "AR". It's just a heads up display — a transparent screen that usually only displays floating text.

If Apple does AR, I hope it delivers on the promise of HoloLens (which has a floating viewport so small that it completely ruins the illusion). I still don't see this as Apple's next big money maker.

If I was Apple, I would get serious about the AppleTV hardware and content. TV is a bigger play for the foreseeable future. I would buy Netflix and Nintendo. I would make an actual TV with the AppleTV and a Kinect style camera built in. Real gaming; FaceTime; gesture, voice, gamepad, and remote control. I'd love if they could reimagine the wall mount so everyone felt more compelled and able. I always wall mount my TV's and hide the wires... just really nice when you simply have a floating rectangle of video.

AR is cool, but t will need some mass market practical applications and everything I've seen so far has been pretty niche.

 

[gmarm]

Another half-baked product like the  Watch and the AirPods inc. Sigh..

 

[pee jay bee]

I'm amazed people are so dismissive of a product they haven't seen. A bit of imagination might help. Or look at MicroSoft hololens demos. Or think how it could help your workflow.

I imagine working in Adobe CC and being able to move the palettes (and cursor) OFF the screen - so they're tied spatially to the edges of the display. Integrating tightly with the mac and iOS could be great. Same for apple TV - browse in augmented reality then pass the content onto the real TV - could be great

 

[niun]

OH Timmy you rascal.. Buying up all of those defunct Google Glasses, slapping an Apple logo on the side and counting the $$.

On a serious note though.. WTF?!

 

[Lostanddamned]

New products!! perhaps apple should get their quality right first on existing products
(2nd iPhone cable and colleagues have same problem).
Cost iPhone 6 £699.00 25 months ago shame on you apple I can get a knock off cable 'braided' for a fraction of the cost of a 'genuine' flawed apple cable.

View attachment 672346

Have you been chewing on this? I've got a lightning cable I got with my launch day iPhone 5 and it's still functional and not even half as shredded as that.

 

[zafcom]

Wow. Yet another "amaaaaazing", "aaaaaaaawesome" unaffordable product that promises the future and gets abandoned in a couple of unpolished iterations. Oh Apple, where are you going?

 

[JeffyTheQuik]

No not iGlasses. Apple Glasses

Will they use iOS?