Apple has long been known to be working on a mixed-reality headset, its first major new product category since the Apple Watch, and has renamed the accompanying software, “xrOS,” ahead of the new hardware’s expected debut.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
The company plans to introduce the headset as early as next year, along with a dedicated operating system and app store for third-party software, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Internally, the company recently changed the name of the operating system to “xrOS” from “realityOS,” said the people, who asked not to be identified because the project is still under wraps.
The new software name is a nod to the headset’s mixed-reality capabilities. “XR” stands for extended reality, a term that encompasses both augmented and virtual reality.
The mixed-reality operating system will offer new versions of core apps — like Messages and Maps — and will work with a software development kit that third parties can use to create their own apps and games… People with knowledge of the company’s plans have said the device will offer virtual collaboration tools and a VR version of FaceTime, rivaling services like Zoom and Meta’s Horizon Workrooms.
Around the same time as the name change, a secretive shell corporation named Deep Dive LLC filed to trademark the brand “xrOS” in several countries internationally and is trying to secure the name in the US. If Apple is indeed behind the filings, that suggests it’s considering using “xrOS” as its public product name as well.
MacDailyNews Take: Alas, realityOS, we hardly knew ye, but fare thee well nonetheless! Hello, xrOS!
Apple has the custom silicon. Apple has the installed base. Apple has the ecosystem. Apple has the services. Apple will have the profitable portion of the mixed-reality headset market. And then, a few years later, Apple will take the profitable portion of the smartglasses (AR) market, too.
And some people will slap their foreheads and lament, “I could’ve bought Apple shares under $140!” – MacDailyNews, May 24, 2022
Apple’s smartgoggles will be cool, but it’s the subsequent Apple smartglasses that will change the world. – MacDailyNews, July 11, 2022
Augmented Reality is going to change everything. — MacDailyNews, July 21, 2017
Someday, hopefully sooner than later, we’ll look back at holding up slabs of metal and glass to access AR as unbelievably quaint. — MacDailyNews, July 28, 2017
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rOS sounds better
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rOS, by any other word would smell as sweet.”
Yet another over priced device with a very limited market
Oh well I doubt your opinion will count for anything in the real or VR world, as it clearly hasn’t in judgement of all those previous devices so I suspect Cookie won’t be losing any real or electronic sleep over it.
Says grandpa from his recliner with beer storage in the arm rests.