Morgan Stanley expects Apple to be 'game changer' in Augmented Reality
Investment bank Morgan Stanley has advised clients that AR will see "liftoff" once Apple enters the market, says launches are coming soon.

Credit: Magic Leap
Tim Cook has repeatedly said that Apple sees augmented reality as important, and the company has filed very many patents regarding Apple AR. Now Morgan Stanley notes that "Apple's patent portfolio is beginning to mirror the period prior to the Watch launch."
In a report called "Augmented & Virtual Reality," seen by Investors.com, the investment bank says both that launches are getting close, and that Apple will bring AR into the popular mainstream.
"Apple's entry into the eyewear market will be the game changer for all participants as the technology gets normalized and popularized," it says. "Apple has a long history of disrupting new markets and ultimately growing the addressable market size well beyond initial expectations."
"The enormity of the technical challenge -- compressing daylong battery, 5G, compute, cameras, LiDAR, projectors and wave guide lenses into a lightweight, attractive pair of glasses -- is hard to overstate," continued Morgan Stanley analysts. "But we are approaching liftoff."
Separately, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has claimed that production of Apple's first AR headset now won't begin until the end of 2022.
Read on AppleInsider

Credit: Magic Leap
Tim Cook has repeatedly said that Apple sees augmented reality as important, and the company has filed very many patents regarding Apple AR. Now Morgan Stanley notes that "Apple's patent portfolio is beginning to mirror the period prior to the Watch launch."
In a report called "Augmented & Virtual Reality," seen by Investors.com, the investment bank says both that launches are getting close, and that Apple will bring AR into the popular mainstream.
"Apple's entry into the eyewear market will be the game changer for all participants as the technology gets normalized and popularized," it says. "Apple has a long history of disrupting new markets and ultimately growing the addressable market size well beyond initial expectations."
"The enormity of the technical challenge -- compressing daylong battery, 5G, compute, cameras, LiDAR, projectors and wave guide lenses into a lightweight, attractive pair of glasses -- is hard to overstate," continued Morgan Stanley analysts. "But we are approaching liftoff."
Separately, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has claimed that production of Apple's first AR headset now won't begin until the end of 2022.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
I put this one in the same category as A.I., quantum computing, and bitcoin. There may be a whole lot of buzz, but very little real world value in my mind. Perhaps at some point, but that point is still a long way off.
You description of walking / driving with AR glasses on frightens me to no end! It's bad enough with people trying to surreptitiously text and watch videos on their phones, now people will be watching porn while driving and nobody will be the wiser (hopefully they are just watching). Having grown up in the age of physical maps, I have little need for a big blinking red arrow in my face telling me to turn. Amazingly people actually were able to find their way to a destination before the advent of car navigation systems.
When I drive, the fewer distractions the better... it allows me to avoid getting hit by all the people not paying attention to where their 2 ton hunk of metal is heading, and to get around the people driving half the speed limit because the are too engaged in something other than driving. I was once provided a Cadillac loaner car while my car was getting repaired (after getting rear ended by a driver who was texting). The Cadillac had all sorts of driver "assistance" which drove me to distraction. The seat would vibrate, various colored lights would flash, alarm klaxons would go off all because the car thought I was unaware of the environment around me. I was not. The silly thing even had a large lcd display to replace the center console controls. The stupidity of having non-tactile controls in a moving car astounded me... the bloody thing even had nested menus. That was an accident waiting to happen! Fewer distractions = safer (although not necessarily better) drivers.
Technology can offer enormous benefit to our lives, but it frequently does not. Just like cellular phones provide great potential benefits, they are regularly and repeatedly used my the masses in an unsafe and dangerous manner. Don't be naive in your infatuation with the "potential" AR offers, be cynical and imagine how it will be twisted and perverted by the masses.
Add to all that Apple's willingness to require on-device nanny software reporting on your actions. Imagine getting home after a drive to find you committed half a dozen moving violations and the police are waiting with tickets in hand... okay, the police would probably just mail them to you.
That might be your idea of Utopia, but it's not mine.
Factors like motion sickness and exclusion of the real world steer me from VR.
Landmarks in cities and on-road directions.
Personal 3d concerts in my living room.
Holograph-style virtual meetings.
Historical sites brought to life - taking you back in time. Education could be massive with AR.
VR will be a hit with gamers, a much smaller but still lucrative market.