Apple Considering Expansion Into Wearable Glasses, Says Report (bloomberg.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Apple is weighing an expansion into digital glasses, a risky but potentially lucrative area of wearable computing, according to people familiar with the matter. While still in an exploration phase, the device would connect wirelessly to iPhones, show images and other information in the wearer's field of vision, and may use augmented reality, the people said. They asked not to be identified speaking about a secret project. Apple has talked about its glasses project with potential suppliers, according to people familiar with those discussions. The company has ordered small quantities of near-eye displays from one supplier for testing, the people said. Apple hasn't ordered enough components so far to indicate imminent mass-production, one of the people added. Should Apple ultimately decide to proceed with the device, it would be introduced in 2018 at the earliest, another person said. The glasses may be Apple's first hardware product targeted directly at AR, one of the people said. Apple has AR patents for things like street view in mapping apps. It was also awarded patents for smart glasses that make use of full-fledged virtual reality. Apple is unlikely to leverage VR in a mass-consumer product, Cook suggested in October. Apple's challenge is fitting all the technology needed into a useful pair of internet-connected glasses that are small and sleek enough for regular people to wear.

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Re:A better terminal for an iPhone

[stealth_finger]

I have a distant relative who is undergoing major medical problems, and if he or one of his med techs texts me while I'm out hiking with my club, there's no time to whip off my sunglasses, forage in my pack for reading glasses, and put those on to see the message. But suppose my sunnies had a VR overlay that brought out one selected iPhone function, as the Apple Watch does. By having it display texts, I could stay informed without breaking stride. So long as Apple avoided the optics, so to speak, of Google Glass, for many people, this could be a more practical wearable than the Watch.

Why is there no time to change glasses to read this text? Could your phone read it out loud(through headphones maybe)? Could someone else read it? Why is all this an issue when you're more concerned with not breaking stride with your hiking club that the distant relative having major medical problems? If the situation is so urgent you can't afford the delay of non instant communication direct to your eyeball, you really shouldn't be out hiking in the first place. What if you have no signal and all that is moot?