VR evangelist doubles down on rumor that Apple AR headset is inbound, moves date up to 201...
Augmented and virtual reality herald Robert Scoble has amplified his predictions about an Apple partnership with Carl Zeiss on a pair of smart glasses, and is predicting an announcement of the technology possibly as early as the middle of 2017.
Citing "many sources" situated "at the highest levels," Scoble reiterated his previous speculation that Apple would release an augmented reality headset soon. During the Feb. 5 "This Week in Tech" show with Leo Laporte, Georgia Dow, and Peter Cohen, Scoble presented little additional information than he had before, but moved up his prediction to an announcement as soon as the summer of 2017, but left open the possibility of the date slipping until 2018.
Scoble suspects that an announcement may be in conjunction with an Apple headquarters announcement, or possibly the 10th anniversary of the iPhone. Scoble expects a very lightweight pair of glasses, with the electronics on other places on your body, such as in an iPhone or other wearable.
"This is Tim Cook's legacy," Scoble said regarding a possible announcement. "In fact, it's Steve Jobs's legacy too."
Currently, Zeiss sells the VR One Plus, a headset that contains a user's smart phone, converting it into a VR or AR system, similar to the Samsung Gear VR or Google Daydream.
Zeiss made an appearance at the Consumer Electronics Show in January in the augmented reality pavilion, but had nothing new to demonstrate. Scoble previously explained the absence of optics at the show by saying that Apple muzzled the company until there is something to announce, and reiterated that claim in the show.
Apple has in the past shown interest in AR, with CEO Tim Cook trumpeting the technology on more than one occasion, but how or when the company plans to enter the sector is unclear.
"We are high on AR for the long run," Cook said during an earnings conference call in July 2016. "We think there's great things for customers and a great commercial opportunity. So we're investing,"
In November, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted Apple would ultimately exhibit an AR solution, but predicted that a standalone system is unlikely to debut for at least one to two years.
Apple is said to use AR and VR technology, reportedly utilizing it in to test a heads-up display with Siri integration in a migration from a full car with self-driving hardware towards supporting software systems.
Beyond Cook's affirmations that AR is an interest to Apple, there is ample evidence that the company is quickly growing out an internal AR team through strategic hires and segment purchases including motion capture specialist Faceshift, machine learning and computer vision startup Perceptio, German AR firm Metaio and Flyby Media, among others. Those acquisitions, some of which are considered "acqui-hires," go along with in-house development of transparent displays, iPhone-powered VR rigs, AR maps and other related technologies.
Citing "many sources" situated "at the highest levels," Scoble reiterated his previous speculation that Apple would release an augmented reality headset soon. During the Feb. 5 "This Week in Tech" show with Leo Laporte, Georgia Dow, and Peter Cohen, Scoble presented little additional information than he had before, but moved up his prediction to an announcement as soon as the summer of 2017, but left open the possibility of the date slipping until 2018.
Scoble suspects that an announcement may be in conjunction with an Apple headquarters announcement, or possibly the 10th anniversary of the iPhone. Scoble expects a very lightweight pair of glasses, with the electronics on other places on your body, such as in an iPhone or other wearable.
"This is Tim Cook's legacy," Scoble said regarding a possible announcement. "In fact, it's Steve Jobs's legacy too."
Currently, Zeiss sells the VR One Plus, a headset that contains a user's smart phone, converting it into a VR or AR system, similar to the Samsung Gear VR or Google Daydream.
Zeiss made an appearance at the Consumer Electronics Show in January in the augmented reality pavilion, but had nothing new to demonstrate. Scoble previously explained the absence of optics at the show by saying that Apple muzzled the company until there is something to announce, and reiterated that claim in the show.
Apple has in the past shown interest in AR, with CEO Tim Cook trumpeting the technology on more than one occasion, but how or when the company plans to enter the sector is unclear.
"We are high on AR for the long run," Cook said during an earnings conference call in July 2016. "We think there's great things for customers and a great commercial opportunity. So we're investing,"
In November, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted Apple would ultimately exhibit an AR solution, but predicted that a standalone system is unlikely to debut for at least one to two years.
Apple is said to use AR and VR technology, reportedly utilizing it in to test a heads-up display with Siri integration in a migration from a full car with self-driving hardware towards supporting software systems.
Beyond Cook's affirmations that AR is an interest to Apple, there is ample evidence that the company is quickly growing out an internal AR team through strategic hires and segment purchases including motion capture specialist Faceshift, machine learning and computer vision startup Perceptio, German AR firm Metaio and Flyby Media, among others. Those acquisitions, some of which are considered "acqui-hires," go along with in-house development of transparent displays, iPhone-powered VR rigs, AR maps and other related technologies.
Comments
They will release this right after the Apple TV.
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High level sources in high places say it's coming. I predict this headset will come in 2017, if not it will be pushed back to 2018 and so on.
/s
Not gonna lie the "Steve Jobs' legacy too" part got me excited so I hope it is true. I imagine it will not require an iPhone be strapped to your face. That solution is nerdy and not practical. I know a lot of people had a hard time imagining it but it's certainly possible.
Scoble is the shmuck who swore Google Glass was the next big thing... Scoble is a perennial pariah in the tech field. Somehow he keeps finding new suckers to pay his bills while he butters them up.
Yesterday the wife and I were in the Mall and we walked by the Microsoft Store, and they had a demo of someone playing a game with a VR headset. I looked over to my wife to get her reaction to what she saw, before I could ask I saw the look on her face. She was completely shocked as well as many others walking by. They looking at this guy swinging his head and arms around making funny gestures with his face and mouth and they were completely confused at what they were seeing. I finally asked the wife what was wrong and she said he look like an idiot doing what he was doing. My wife has been around technology a long time since I play with it all time so it not like she did not realize what it was.
There were a few people there who thought it was neat, I would stay I would be interesting in playing with it, but not in the mall where people could watch me, it is a privacy of your own home type of thing. My wife and most people staring at the guy, you could see they felt they would not be caught dead in them.
Just like google glass users got the nick name of glassholes, someone will come up with a equally offensive social term for people wearing VR goggles. I personally think Apple knows this and know the majority of consumers are not going to buy something like goggles.
Geek and tech people think it is great but the balance of the world think it is stupid.
As for being a "laggard" and late to the market, I have to laugh at this. What market? Who is buying VR/AR hardware in any significant way?
What everyone else is releasing is half-baked, ugly stuff that's very unlike what Apple would ever produce.
No, it is seen as antisocial behavior. I am not one to follow social normal or cares what people think. But that is me. However, most people worry about social norms and behave accordingly. It is like body mods & piercing and tattoos. Yeah there are people out there who do it but no one is making Billions off these activity. Yes most people can deal or look past it, and some are accepting but at the end of the day most people like people who are like them. It is social behavior and when people are not same then they get labeled. Google glasses did not fail because the technology did not work, it failed because those who used them were seen as socially unacceptable thus the label glassholes. This is coming from the same people who say we all should be nicer to one another and treat people like they are different, but as soon as you do not act like them they quick to label you.
Here is something interesting to look at, if you wear ear buds with wires and listen to your music and maybe you get into a bit, no one seems to care, lots of people wear ear buds. However, someone walking around with a single blue tooth ear piece talking to someone people think they are weird or something. Because of this less and less Bluetooth ear pieces are sold. One months is socially acceptable to talk and listen on and another is not. The reason being most people see the wire and know exactly what is going on. with a blue tooth ear piece most do not see and when the person talks people respond and then realize the person is not talking to them so people get embarrassed.
Face it social norms dictate what everyone does especially in the presents of other people and most people in sprite of what they say are not accepting of people differences.
Wrong on so many levels I hardly know where to begin.
As you haven't been paying attention for the past decade then let's start with the basics. Apple does not talk about future products because it distracts people from the stuff the company is trying to sell now. Outfits that spend all their time talking about the future are usually looking at a fall in sales for their current product line.
but moved up his prediction to an announcement as soon as the summer of 2017, but left open the possibility of the date slipping until 2018
A prediction without a firm date is not a prediction; it's a guess.
When this thing doesn't show up by the end of 2018, then Scoble will simply say that a design fault discovered on the day the first device was due to roll off the production line meant that Apple cancelled the whole project. No prototypes will ever show up on eBay.
Apple does not care if the tech community of media-blog-o-sphere think they are a laggard. Apple does their investigations behind the scenes, not out in public. They don't talk vapourware simply to be seen as a thought leader. Never have, and I am sure never will.
I would say, based on results, that Apple's approach works for them.