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Oh hi. What is it then? A Niantic brand AR headset? Perhaps? John Hanke, CEO of developer Pokémon GO, teased what could be a head-mounted first-party laptop as the company makes a more aggressive push towards augmented reality.
“It’s exciting to see the progress we’re making in enabling new types of devices that take advantage of our platform,” the executive noted in accompanying text an image of eyeglass temples emblazoned with the Niantic name in bright orange.
Niantic has been a fairly active investor in the augmented reality hardware space, so it’s also possible that they’ve entered into a brand partnership with a startup on a project, but this harvest of cryptic imagery certainly gives the impression that they present a device with a first party mark. It is also possible that this is a product in the “smart glasses” category that does not include a screen but focuses on creating audio or camera functionality in a pair of glasses. Niantic previously announced that it is working with Qualcomm to help define its benchmark design for its XR hardware platform.
We reached out to Niantic for further comment.
Notably, the Twitter teaser also follows Niantic’s post of a job posting for an AR OS engineering manager.
“We’re on an ambitious mission to turn the world into an augmented reality canvas that games and other apps can paint on,” the list says. “This future is fully realized on the AR (HMD) head displays. The Niantic Engineering team is looking for an inspiring leader to oversee the direction of engineering to help create an AR operating system for HMDs and enable applications for millions of Niantic gamers.
The image comes amid a recent wave of activity for Google’s unique spin-out. Last week, the company announced an AR title based on Pikmin, another Nintendo collaboration after its hugely successful Pokémon title. Earlier this month, it showcased a proof of concept version of Pokémon GO running on Microsoft’s HoloLens 2.
Niantic’s AR platform has been kept under wraps for the most part, as the company seems to be waiting for a more active moment in the development of augmented reality to make a major push. Some of that activity may ultimately be defined by a larger AR hardware ecosystem, and as Apple and Facebook compete to release their own devices, I imagine gamers like Niantic are concerned that these early devices will focus on them. first party software. initially and leave fewer platform opportunities for third parties.
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