What Display Daily thinks: To paraphrase Jon Peddie, people just look goofy wearing these devices.
The barrier to market acceptance is to make people look less goofy, not goofy at all, or we just don’t care as long as we say we have an XR strategy?
No one knows what the strategy is here other than the fact that Google isn’t going to let Meta and Apple throw their money down the drain without showing the world that it can be just as profligate.
It gets really boring to cover this stuff, it really does. When you show me someone who enjoys wearing prescription lenses then you have one use case. As for headsets, when you show me someone who loves to flail around in public with a bucket over their head, albeit one lined with very high-quality printed mesh materials, we can start talking about go to market strategies.
The day this stuff becomes profitable is the day…… well, hell freezes over? At this stage, there is too much money and investment in trying to avoid having to say, the emperor has no clothes on. And don’t go on at me about enterprise usage. Enterprises like ROI. You can ask whoever handles your department’s budget at work. They will confirm this. You can ask whoever makes these devices to give you their ROI data. My money is on the budget director coming across as Einstein and the XR guy excusing himself because he just remembered he forgot to feed his cat.
Google Partners With Magic Leap on XR
Google has announced a strategic technology partnership with Magic Leap to foster innovation in the extended reality (XR) ecosystem. Despite both companies having faced significant setbacks (the nicest way to put it) with their previous ventures—Google Glass and Magic Leap headsets—they are now collaborating to develop new, cutting-edge XR products. This partnership emphasizes Magic Leap’s strengths in producing highly precise eyepieces with high yield rates and quality at scale.
While specific details of the partnership remain undisclosed, it is evident that Google remains committed to augmented reality (AR) development, as shown by the recent prototype AR glasses briefly showcased at Google I/O. This collaboration might be crucial for Google in overcoming the significant challenges associated with developing lightweight, cost-effective AR glasses, a challenge that has also plagued other major tech companies like Apple and Meta.
Magic Leap’s substantial research and patented optical techniques could provide Google with the technological edge needed to excel in the competitive XR market. However, given the secrecy surrounding the partnership and similar past collaborations, such as Google’s deal with Samsung and Qualcomm, it is uncertain when the public will see the fruits of this collaboration. The anticipation is that new developments might be revealed alongside upcoming Galaxy Z Flip and Fold handsets by the end of 2024.
