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