“Apple Inc. is weighing an expansion into digital glasses, a risky but potentially lucrative area of wearable computing, according to people familiar with the matter,” Mark Gurman, Alex Webb, and Ian King report for Bloomberg. “While still in an exploration phase, the device would connect wirelessly to iPhones, show images and other information in the wearer’s field of vision, and may use augmented reality, the people said.”
“Apple has talked about its glasses project with potential suppliers, according to people familiar with those discussions,” Gurman, Webb, and King report. “The company has ordered small quantities of near-eye displays from one supplier for testing, the people said. Apple hasn’t ordered enough components so far to indicate imminent mass-production, one of the people added.”
“Should Apple ultimately decide to proceed with the device, it would be introduced in 2018 at the earliest, another person said. The Cupertino, California-based company tests many different products and is known to pivot, pause, or cancel projects without disclosing them,” Gurman, Webb, and King report. “The glasses may be Apple’s first hardware product targeted directly at AR, one of the people said… Apple has AR patents for things like street view in mapping apps. It was also awarded patents for smart glasses that make use of full-fledged virtual reality.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple Specs®. Wearable eyewear done right.
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