Apple Creates Two Distinct Platforms for Smartglasses

The revolution is upon us. It all has to do with glasses, goggles, and headsets. What is the reality of this revolution? Virtual reality (VR), Augmented reality (AR), Extended Reality (ER), Mixed Reality (XR), and Mixed Reality (XR).

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CEO, changed the company’s name from “Facebook,” to “Meta,” and then miraculously persuaded the media to call all these realities “the metaverse”. This marketing miracle led many to consider Zuckerberg the leader, or at the very least the thought leader, of this new trend.

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People were stunned (and Zuckerberg ridiculed) when Zuck posted a selfie from Horizon Worlds. It was part of the European debut of Meta’s virtual reality gaming platform. Instead of looking futuristic, looked more like the 1990s. Later, he explained via Instagram that the graphics were “pretty simple “… taken very quickly to celebrate a launch.”

Zuckerberg claims VR is the future; Apple believes AR is.

Further complicating things, Apple, the great mainstreamer of major hardware platforms, is expected to launch a VR product next year.

What’s new (and what’s old)

There is so much hype, confusion, and FUD surrounding the so-called metaverse that it is important to understand what’s going on now and what’s likely in the future.

There is not a metaverse and there will never be one. A “metaverse”, or shared, open, virtual-, and augmented-reality version, of the Internet, is called. It is long past the days when governments, tech companies, and industries could all come together to create a single platform.

• There are three basic categories of end-user devices that can be used for virtual and/or augmented reality experiences: 1) bulky indoors only augmented reality goggles and 2) bulky indoors only augmented reality goggles. 3) every day, all-day augmented reality glasses that look just like regular glasses.
• The first two broad categories will provide high-quality, exciting experiences, while the second will be used for a limited number of purposes. However, they will still be niche products that can be used for many things.
• AR glasses, which can be worn in any social situation and all day, will replace smartphones as the central device. This device will revolutionize human culture and change the way we live, work, and think. AR glasses will become more central to our lives and work than smartphones in 10 years, I believe.
• Based on patents, sourced reporting, and an examination of the code released, here’s what we know so far about Apple’s plans.

Apple employs hundreds of people who are actively developing two hardware platforms that will run the Apple operating system, reality. The first is a headset, the second is glasses.

The headset will ship in the next year and is primarily VR hardware that can be used for AR. However, it will also support VR. AR will be enabled by a camera that captures the user’s environment. This view will be displayed to the user in real-time and augmented with audio or visual information.

I have predicted that Apple’s killer application for this platform would be avatar-based meetings.

The hardware will be just as powerful as a computer (and cost as much as $2,000) and will have two 8K displays for each eyeball. The glasses will have sensors that can map 3D space and monitor the user’s gaze, identity, and other factors. Spacial audio will create the illusion of virtual objects in real space.

The glasses will be similar to regular eyeglasses but will also support prescription lenses. They are expected to ship in 2025. Apple is yet to decide on the final specifications of the glasses product. We don’t know much about its final configuration.

These two, the headset and glasses, are the most likely to replace smartphones as central cultural-shifting platforms.

Two platforms?

Based on comments made by Apple CEO Tim Cook (most recent in June), the company believes that AR is the future for Apple.

Why are there two platforms? Why the VR glasses? Why can’t Apple wait for the glasses to be ready before it makes them? Steve Ballmer, former CEO of Microsoft, said: “Developers and developers, developers, development, developers, developers, developer.”