Patrick McGee & Tim Bradshaw, reporting for Financial Times:
After seven years in development — twice as long as the iPhone — [Apple] is widely expected to unveil a headset featuring both virtual and augmented reality as soon as June.
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The timing of the launch has been a source of tension since the project began in early 2016… Apple’s operations team wanted to ship a “version one” product, a ski goggle-like headset… but Apple’s famed industrial design team had cautioned patience, wanting to delay until a more lightweight version of AR glasses became technically feasible.
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Just a few years ago, going against the wishes of Apple’s all-powerful design team would have been unthinkable… A former Apple engineer said operations taking more control over product development is a “logical progression” of Apple’s trajectory under Cook. The best part of working at Apple, this person said, used to be coming up with engineering solutions to the “insane requirements” from the design team, but that has changed in recent years.
There was a momentous gathering at Apple Inc. last week, with the company’s roughly 100 highest-ranking executives descending on the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California. The group, known as the Top 100, was there to see Apple’s most important new product in years: its mixed-reality headset.
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The demonstrations were polished, glitzy and exciting, but many executives are clear-eyed about Apple’s challenges pushing into this new market… the device will start at around $3,000, lack a clear killer app, require an external battery that will need to be replaced every couple of hours and use a design that some testers have deemed uncomfortable. It’s also likely to launch with limited media content.
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When subsequent headset models arrive, Apple executives expect consumer interest to grow. The company is preparing a version that will cost half as much, as well as a successor to the first model with far better performance. Those should hit within two years of the initial headset.
I remain very excited to see Apple’s headset, even if the price point and form factor mean that I will personally hold off on purchasing one until future iterations become available.
Lightweight, wireless, augmented reality (AR) glasses with passive artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities seems like the first truly compelling successor to the smartphone. In the past four months, we have suddenly made enough progress on the AI side to make this feasible — now it is AR’s turn to catch up.
AR + AI = Augmented Intelligence?