Apple's new study reveals that it is serious about creating smart glasses
You might not agree but I've been hoping that Apple creates a pair of smart glasses to replace the iPhone. If you want to see how such a device could be used on a day-by-day basis, watch the video that Google released on April 4th, 2012 when Project Glass was introduced. Augmented Reality (AR) powered glasses could replace the iPhone someday. By making sure that it doesn't follow the same road that Google took with Glass, Apple's AR glasses might have a happier ending than Google Glass did.
According to Bloomberg chief correspondent Mark Gurman, Apple is studying all of the current smart glasses currently available in the marketplace. The tech giant will collect feedback from Apple employees who will be testing glasses like the ones made by Meta and others during an initiative called Atlas. According to one Apple employee who remained anonymous because all of this work is secret, in the near future Apple will put together focus groups to discuss currently produced smart glasses. These groups will be led by Apple's Product Systems Quality team which is part of the hardware engineering division.
The Product Systems Quality team sent an email to select employees at Apple headquarters in Cupertino that said, "Testing and developing products that all can come to love is very important to what we do at Apple. This is why we are looking for participants to join us in an upcoming user study with current market smart glasses."
Gurman notes that when Apple is about to enter a new product category, it will host secret product groups to help it understand what people like about existing products in this category. Typically, Apple puts more stock on the feedback it receives from employees rather than customers. By doing this, the company can keep its plans secret. Apple will use this research to decide which features it wants to include with its own smart glasses. It could also help Apple figure out how consumers will employ the device.
Just the fact that Apple is going to be going forward with this research indicates that the company is seriously looking to design, produce, and market a pair of Apple smart glasses. Even though such a product is years away, Apple apparently already sees Meta as a leader in this category with its Ray-Ban device. Meta's $299 smart glasses, produced with its partner Luxottica, aren't really AR specs since they don't deliver computer-generated graphics over a real live feed. But they do take videos, shoot photographs, and answer questions asked to an AI digital assistant.
Apple's glasses will be a huge departure from the $3,499 Vision Pro spatial computer which tried to be everything to everybody. At least for those who could afford it. For Apple smart glasses, the company will have to limit the technology to make the device lighter and less expensive. This sounds like a tough task but once Apple can get an idea from the focus groups about the features it needs to focus on, the company will probably make some headway quickly toward the creation of what could be the successor to the iPhone, Apple Glass.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: