Apple's AR Glasses Could Slip To 2026, Says Analyst (tomsguide.com) 27
While Apple is still expected to release its first VR/AR headset next year, the bigger step to mainstream adoption -- the Google Glass-style AR glasses -- may have slipped two years according to one analyst. Tom's Guide reports: In an email to MarketWatch, Haitong International Tech Research's Jeff Pu wrote that Apple Glasses could now be up to four years from making their first appearance. "We now expect the AR Glass to be postponed to 2025-2026, due to design issues," Pu wrote. This is significant as just five months ago Pu stated that the AR glasses could be announced as soon as 2024.
The term "design difficulties" is, of course, a bit of a catch-all. It could cover anything from making the glasses aesthetically pleasing and light enough for extended wear, to ensuring they have enough battery life to be useful and don't overheat. But it's striking that nearly a decade after Google Glass became available to 'Explorers' in the US, companies are still struggling to make the form factor work, despite the considerable technological improvements we've seen in the intervening years.
The term "design difficulties" is, of course, a bit of a catch-all. It could cover anything from making the glasses aesthetically pleasing and light enough for extended wear, to ensuring they have enough battery life to be useful and don't overheat. But it's striking that nearly a decade after Google Glass became available to 'Explorers' in the US, companies are still struggling to make the form factor work, despite the considerable technological improvements we've seen in the intervening years.
Or never? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Or never? (Score:5, Interesting)
Apple's usual strategy is to wait until others move first, learn from their mistakes, and then do it "right".
The few times that Apple truly innovated, such as the Newton [wikipedia.org], were failures.
Re: (Score:2)
Apple's usual strategy is to wait until others move first, learn from their mistakes, and then do it "right".
I think you're right about that but Steve Jobs is dead.
Not that I'm all in on the genius theory, he did insist on products working right before they were released, and I'm not seeing much in the way of innovation from Apple lately.
Still, Apple can waste billions and still have money left over, so even if they turn into HP they could carry on for decades.
Re: (Score:2)
Apple's usual strategy is to wait until others move first, learn from their mistakes, and then do it "right".
The few times that Apple truly innovated, such as the Newton [wikipedia.org], were failures.
AFAIK the iPhone was the first of its kind (even though people knew it was coming for years) so I'll give them credit there.
And while the iPad was not terribly original it was largely considered a joke at first until it really caught on, so I'll give them props for bringing it to market.
Overall I'd say they were one of the more innovative companies out there, though I put that in the past tense since I feel like they haven't done much since Steve Jobs died. I don't know if that's because current leadership
Re:Or never? (Score:5, Informative)
AFAIK the iPhone was the first of its kind
It was not. [androidauthority.com]
Re: (Score:2)
That article is a good read. It's really amazing how lame LG is. They still are, too. I pity the fool who buys anything with an LG logo on it — literally everything I ever bought from them failed prematurely.
Re: (Score:2)
Though I don't see much connecting 'iPhone' and that device other than a capacitive touchscreen.
The text entry was still traditional phone style with the number pad first and text entry a distant distant afterthought. The web capability was almost certainly the typical 'mobile web' which was just hilariously bad, whereas the iPhone was able to render and navigate actual normal websites (not *optimal* in that form factor, but at least possible. The text entry and actual nearly full-fledged web browser were
Re: (Score:2)
You're really stretching. I had no problem navigating "normal websites" on my BlackBerry in 2007. Apple's advertising there was very deceptive.
Also, I seem to remember a lawsuit over Apple's "just the web" claims, though it had something to do with the lack of Flash support.
Re:Or never? (Score:4, Insightful)
Apple's usual strategy is to wait until others move first, learn from their mistakes, and then do it "right".
Arguably, that’s what they’re doing here too. See: Google Glass, Microsoft HoloLens, Meta’s Oculus line, etc., none of which have set the world on fire. It’s clear that the people using this stuff see the germ of something huge, but no one has cracked the nut yet. It reminds me of 2005 when PDAs were synonymous with “smartphones” and only a few diehards (by today”s market’s standards) had any interest in using them.
That said, this feels more like an “Apple Watch idea” than an “iPhone idea” to me. Even before the iPhone was announced, we all knew phones were terrible. Dumb phones, PDAs, didn’t matter: they all sucked. I have a distinct memory of going through the setup process with a dumb phone in 2005 and thinking, “This is terrible, but Apple could do this better, I bet”. I didn’t need Steve Jobs on a stage to tell me there was a problem, let alone convince me I needed their solution (though I did wait for a price drop and 3G before picking one up).
In contrast, even though an Apple Watch provides a tremendous number of benefits over my Casio, at the end of the day its primary purpose is to tell time, and my Casio does that every bit as well with orders of magnitude less maintenance and fuss and cost. The added benefits don’t outweigh the daily charging, the high cost, or the short lifespan. They don’t solve a problem I care about. And even though the Apple Watch may be the best selling watch in the industry, that’s a low bar and it’s clear it hasn’t really taken the world by storm.
Likewise, I see loads of potential benefits to AR, but I get by fine without them already, so any device Apple introduces will be fighting an uphill battle to convince me I even have a problem that warrants the hassle and cost any new device introduces.
Color me unconvinced, but I’m happy to eat crow if this ends up being a watershed moment.
Re: (Score:2)
wat
Setup process? What setup process? You turn it on and start using it? Oh gee, that was hard.
In contrast, even though an Apple Watch provides a tremendous number of benefits over my Casio, at the end of the day its primary purpose is to tell time, and my Casio does that every bit as well with orders of magnitude less maintenance and fuss and cost. The added benefits donâ(TM)t outweigh the daily charging, the high cost, or the short lifespan.
Congratulations,
Re: Or never? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EO_Personal_Communicator
Which was a copy of the 1989 device GridPAD: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GRiDPad
Re: Or never? (Score:2)
Faulty premise for a product (Score:1)
The entire idea of selling these things, even for pennies, is that people need to/want to/don't mind seeing floating whatevers while going about their business.
Regardless of the pain in the ass of wearing something on your head for the privilege. Especially if you wear glasses. Which almost everyone will have to do, at least some of the time, at some point in their lives.
The delay is only because... (Score:3)
... they haven't figured out how to puts ads on it [basicappleguy.com] yet.
Re: (Score:1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Just waiting (Score:2)
Zucked-up
And the fanboys will wait patiently for years.... (Score:2)
3-4 years is a heck of a delay! (Score:1)
Aimless without Jobs (Score:1)
Cook is content to make tons of money. He's a money guy.
Jobs wanted to change the world. That creates drive.
Well, I guess with Liz Truss's iPhone hack maybe Cook did too. Not enough money to counter Pegasus, right Tim?
Waiting on VR/AR headset content !!! (Score:2, Insightful)
Unannounced product vs. unpublished target (Score:3)
Is it really a slip if they don't meet a release target that someone else made up?
Glasses slip (Score:3)
So what's the big deal? Just push them back on your nose. What kind of geek are you anyway?