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Apple's Next Big Thing: Augmented Reality (bloomberg.com)

Posted by msmash on from the shape-of-things-to-come dept.

Apple is beefing up its staff with acquisitions and some big hires to help design augmented reality glasses and iPhone features, according to Bloomberg. From a report: Apple is working on "digital spectacles" that could connect to an iPhone and beam content like movies and maps, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported on Monday. The Cupertino, Calif.- based company is also working on augmented reality features for the iPhone that are similar to Snapchat, Bloomberg said. To make its augmented reality push, Apple has acquired augmented reality start-ups FlyBy Media and Metaio, and hired major players from Amazon, Facebook's Oculus, Microsoft's HoloLens, and Dolby.

4 of 94 comments (clear)

  1. Meh by scunc · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I don't care what their plans are for augmented reality when their actual reality doesn't even support using a headphone jack.

  2. Re:I knew it by killfixx · · Score: 4, Insightful

    AR was always going to be the "Next Big Thing". VR is a fun, limited-use-case solution looking for a problem. AR keeps the user productive. AR keeps the user engaged in the world around him/her.

    --
    "Helping to keep you two steps ahead of the Thought Police!"
  3. Re:I knew it by mean+pun · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is Apple investing in Google Glass. Remember that thing that Google did that failed miserably and that they gave up on years ago?

    Apple is going to do that now, with the exact same result.

    I've heard that one before about MP3 players, mobile phones, and tablets. All great examples of products where Apple was predicted to fail miserably, and failed miserably to fail miserably.

    Don't bet against Apple in cases like this. On technical grounds I am not convinced AR can be done well, but if someone can do it, it is Apple.

  4. show me by Hevel-Varik · · Score: 1, Insightful

    This news would have been really interesting were Jobs at the helm because he'd established a track record for nearly perfect execution and you could bank on that the final product would be polished. Apple has done nothing in the Cook era to suggest that we can rely on that any more. That said it would be nice if Apple put out something novel.