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Smartphones have become a well-known, popular, and perhaps ancient technology in our time, and many companies have reaped huge profits from their manufacture, but what’s the next revolutionary device that companies are looking to find?
Apple wasn’t the first to invent the smartphone, companies like Palm and Blackberry had been selling it for years, but the iPhone offered a whole new way to interact with computers.
Permanent internet connection, easy-to-use touchscreen and interface based on clickable application icons; They all seem common now, but back then it felt like a revolution.
The smartphone has been a seismic shift in the tech industry, creating entirely new business models while replacing everything from digital cameras to in-car GPS systems.
But smartphone sales fell for two consecutive years for the first time, according to Gartner analysis. So are smartphones old technology?
The tech industry’s next bet is on a series of technologies commonly referred to as augmented reality (AR) or mixed reality (MR), and typically involve a computer worn in front of the user’s eyes.
Users will still be able to see most of the real world in front of them – unlike virtual reality (VR), which completely immerses the user in a computer-generated fantasy land – and layers of augmented reality, computer-generated text and graphics. images above reality. .
Industry observers and participants believe Apple has a good opportunity to verify reality and revolutionize augmented reality like it has done with smartphones.
Apple has been designing prototypes of augmented reality glasses for years, and recent reports from The Information and Bloomberg indicate; That Apple can release glasses with this technology as early as 2022, and it could cost up to $ 3,000.
But Apple isn’t the only company working on these products, all of the big tech players like Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and Amazon are on board.
Between reality and fiction
The writers conjured up visions of what could happen with advanced computer glasses. In an episode of the “Black Mirror” series, I explored a world in which people can “block” certain people from their vision through glasses, and important information emerges. directly whenever you want.
The most common use cases today are smartphone-based games and apps like Pokemon Go or Apple’s Ruler app, which use the phone’s screen and camera instead of the phone. press glasses or other set of screens on your face.
The few companies that produce augmented reality glasses primarily focus on business areas, such as manufacturing and medicine.
And augmented reality is a technology based on depositing virtual objects and information in the user’s real environment, to provide additional information, or serve as a guide, unlike virtual reality based on the projection of the user. ‘real objects in a virtual environment.
Here’s what the biggest tech companies are doing to try and make augmented reality the next big revolution:
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Apple’s success with the iPhone has made it the company it seeks to determine the next generation of augmented reality devices, although the company has never confirmed that it is working on glasses or any other type. laptop.
If Apple released a pair of augmented reality glasses, it could “determine the fate of the augmented reality industry,” given the company’s track record of releasing new technology, says technology analyst Mike Bolland and founder of ARtillery Intelligence.
And a Bloomberg report last month indicated that Apple’s first augmented reality product could launch early next year. The foreground would be battery-powered glasses designed primarily for virtual reality, but with built-in cameras to enable augmented reality as well. The report says this device can cost thousands of dollars and be available only in low volumes, and be more suited for testing by software developers than mass-market products like the one Apple usually releases.
Ultimately, Apple can take lessons from virtual reality glasses and apply them to a pair of lightweight augmented reality glasses with transparent screens. But according to Bloomberg, the project has yet to face additional work on technical issues such as lens technology.
What if Apple finally reveals a big leap forward in augmented reality display technology – especially if the technology is developed and owned by Apple rather than the vendor – Apple could end up with a device that guarantees profits for several years in the future. the realm of augmented reality, as it did when the company’s iPhone rose to the top of the smartphone industry.
One way to look at Apple’s investment in this technology is to look at companies that bought it in this area, where it bought a company that builds transparent optics and others that develop headphones, and companies that create software and content for augmented and virtual reality. , including Akonia Holographics and Fervana. Vrvana, Metaio, Emotient, Flyby Media, Spaces, NextVR.
Google was the first major tech company to launch an over-the-eye computer when Google launched Google Glass in 2013, costing $ 1,500 at the time, and it was explicitly targeting people in the computer industry. , which Google called “explorers.”
But Google’s approach has run into trouble since then, and the company hasn’t tried using advanced processing to bring computer graphics into the real world. Instead, it was equipped with a relatively low resolution camera and a slightly transparent screen. This screen was used to display small information in the user’s field of vision, such as an Apple Watch or smartwatch on the user’s face.
But Google Glass was also criticized because it had a built-in video camera and people felt they were being watched. A woman said she was assaulted outside a San Francisco bar in 2014 for wearing glasses.
Google temporarily stopped working on the glasses in 2015 and revamped them for businesses and commercial developers, not regular users. And last year it started selling for $ 999 a unit through some hardware vendors.
One of the main applications of glasses is Augmedix, which uses an eyeglass camera to reduce the time doctors spend on busy work. The glass camera transmits the interaction with the patients to the “editors” the company has hired to write down important details and record them in the patient’s chart.
Last year, Google acquired North, a Canadian company that manufactures a pair of lightweight smart glasses valued at $ 1,000.
Microsoft
Microsoft unveiled the Hololens (Hololens) augmented reality glasses in 2015, and released the first version in 2016. It is now in its second version, which costs $ 3,500. It is a specialized device targeting the corporate sector.
On its site, Microsoft promotes eyewear as a tool for factories, retail and healthcare. In factories, Microsoft glasses can tell workers how to repair or operate a complex machine. And Microsoft suggests that retailers can actually display their products to customers through eyeglasses, instead of displaying big-ticket items or large amounts of inventory.
The Microsoft Store currently has 343 HoloLens apps, and there are no familiar names, many of which are simple demos with graphics like a birthday cake or fireworks.
Microsoft has invested heavily in this type of technology, buying AltspaceVR, a virtual reality social network, in 2018.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg most recently spoke about his hopes for augmented reality. “While I expect phones to remain our primary devices for most of this decade, at some point in the 1920s we will have unprecedented augmented reality glasses that will redefine our relationship with technology.” , he said last year.
Facebook’s enthusiasm for augmented reality is partly driven by its willingness to ditch the smartphone platforms of other vendors. Especially Apple. Facebook has rejected Apple’s control over the iPhone for years, and the fighting has escalated recently as Apple plans to make technical changes to the iPhone system that will hurt Facebook’s main source of money, namely advertisements on mobile phones.
If Facebook develops the next revolutionary device, it will set the rules.
Zuckerberg also predicts massive societal change resulting from augmented reality. “Imagine if you could live anywhere you want and access any job elsewhere.”
Facebook is already a pioneer of virtual reality, the cousin of augmented reality. He bought Oculus for $ 2 billion in 2014, a move that marks the start of a massive investment in these technologies. The latest head-end device (the Oculus 2 glasses) includes cameras and costs $ 300, and sold for a million units last December, according to SuperData.
With front cameras and powerful processing, virtual reality glasses can bring augmented reality closer by projecting real-time images of the outside world.
The company is also working on lightweight sunglasses and hopes to launch a product this year in partnership with Luxottica, the sunglasses giant.
Amazon
Amazon, the tech giant, has the least public enthusiasm for augmented reality technology, but it sells a pair of smart glasses called Echo Frames that don’t have a display, and instead, the user fully interacts with Amazon Alexa voice assistant.
Amazon is also attacking different angles of augmented reality. Last fall he released the Amazon Augmented Reality app, but it’s not a serious program, instead of using augmented reality, he uses QR codes on Amazon shipping boxes to activate fun mini-games, like converting an Amazon box into a race car. Or put some funny sunglasses on a dog.
Other Amazon apps use augmented reality to place virtual furniture in a user’s home to make sure it’s in shape before making an online purchase.
Amazon also has hundreds of thousands of warehouse workers who may be among the first to adopt AR glasses, and a common use case is to help workers find goods more easily in a large warehouse by putting them prominently with computer graphics.
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