“Look around your office hallway or college campus and you’ll see people holding interactive panes of glass,” Ben Kunz reports for BusinessWeek. “Smartphones and tablets, so revolutionary a few years ago, are quickly becoming commodities. Apple is now locked in a fierce patent battle with Samsung over tablet designs — a sure sign that, whoever is right, touchscreens are converging into gadgets that look like everything else.”
“So as Apple prepares to launch its next iPhone in September, with a slightly bigger screen, here is a prediction—Apple devices will soon project holograms like you’ve never seen,” Kunz writes. “This is not mere speculation, but insight based on Apple’s patents, recent acquisitions, and the business imperative to do something to break free of the tablet clutter.”
Kunz writes, “In November 2010, Apple patented a three-dimensional display system that would ‘mimic a hologram’ without requiring special glasses. The patent narrative is fascinating, noting that one current market gap in screen technology is the ability of a device to project stereoscopic 3D images to multiple viewers at the same time… Apple’s hologram technology will be different—and completely realistic… Finally, in perhaps its most unique trick, the Apple hologram system would detect who is watching, and be able to display different images to different people… This would enable everything from private holograms to personalized advertising.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Apple patent application reveals 3D-based secure facial recognition system – May 10, 2012
Apple looking to hire someone to help them build 3D iPhones and iPads – April 17, 2012
Apple granted a foundational 3D user interface patent that might prove timely – February 28, 2012
Apple patent application reveals 3D eye-tracking interface for gaming and iPhone – February 9, 2012
Apple patent application reveals new 3D GUI for iOS devices – January 12, 2012
Apple wins secret patent for high-end 3D object recognition – November 22, 2011
Apple granted 3D holographic display and imaging system patent – September 13, 2011
Apple exploring multilayer transparent OLED displays for glasses-free 3D computing – July 21, 2011
Apple patent reveals plans for holographic display – December 26, 2010
Apple awarded U.S. patent on no-glasses-required 3D display – December 1, 2010
Apple patent app describes new way to play in a real-life 3D space using iOS devices – November 9, 2010
Yeah, it’ll be glasses-free but the cost of the R2 unit will kill ya.
You might be able to get a used R2 at a discount from the Jawas.
This would enable everything from private holograms to personalized advertising.
Especially the advertising.
Pretty cool but doesn’t Nintendo already do this with the 3ds….
if I understand it, these 3D images would project outward. The Nintendo DS only creates depth, and it’s very poor quality requiring calibration to each user to adjust the screen for the distance between each eye and distance between screen and eyes. This would work no matter where the viewer is positioned
This is just patent application — nothing to do with reality for many years or at all, ever.
H o g w a s h
Brought to you buy the same folks who said
“Why would Apple make a phone…”
As I posted at the source article:
The term ‘hologram’ is being used fast and loose here. I seriously doubt anyone is using the term correctly, including the author. I also seriously doubt that ‘holograms’ is what Apple will be projecting to viewers using their 3D system. If you want to understand what holograms REALLY are, check this out:
Holography @Wikipedia
Exactly, I mean even the MDN headline confounds.
“Glasses-free 3D holograms”
“This is not mere speculation…”
Yes it is.
iGlasses? Really? Don’t be such a fool.
see how apple tries to redefine stuff which is already existed before or already invented. honestly, Apple didn’t almost invent anything new. this is kind of lame. hey, Apple. now are you trying to copy what Google tries, huh? I am ready to sue for it.
Your gibberish doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.
Worse, it’s patently and thoroughly wrong.
Hate somewhere else where brain-dead fandroids will listen to you and circle jerk off who hates Apple the most. Using the same old and debunked arguments over and over again. Just like groundhog day. The film that is. LAME.
Next.
Oh right, because everyone is doing holograms aren’t they?
Copying Google? Are you for real? All I’ve seen from Google is a pair of dorky glasses with a camera attached which transmit video over Wifi. Something I’ve done years ago with my GoPro.
As for the news itself, yes it’s a bit bullshit. Apple is working on 3d stuff but it’s not this.
see how edward tries to reshape the english language which is already existed before to suit his Brain. huh? hey, edward.
Somebody has been watching Star Wars too much
Amazing how these pundits get all excited when they think someone’s invented a new way to create adverts.
Back in ’82, I had the opportunity to go the the Holography Museum in New York City. I saw the only real instances of projected holograms there that i’ve ever seen anywhere. They were actual, 360-degree projected “objects” – coincidentally an apple was one of their main displays – that you could walk all the way around and see from any angle, but if you reached your hand through the object, of course it wasn’t there. they even had a few that were animated, including King Kong haning from the Empire State being attacked by biplanes. Amazing technology that seems to have gone absolutely nowhere. In fact, years ago I read that the museum closed due to lack of funds.
“PoppyCock I say!!
Putting sound and color in my films is impossible. Plus, who needs it!”
– Wilford Adams
Famed Silent Screen Actor
You remember him, don’t you? You DO remember him don’t you? Crap….
Instead of Apple wasting its time on nonsense
like this they need to be fixing Mountain lion’s
Horrific battery drain issue.
Since installing ML I watched in perpetual fury my battery life dropping from 7.75hrs to about 5hrs battery life. I brought 2 retina macbook pro’s to the Mishawaka, IN store for them to witness and fix the problem. One had lion installed and the other ML. After what seems like an obvious attempt to avoid baming ML as the culprit the genius bar rep reluctantly admit that ML appeared to be the cause of the problem and at that point no current fix was available. $&@?!#%!