Apple's AR Strategy

Back in 2015 I wrote a post titled Apple's Next Big Thing.  In it, I mused about Apple's strategy with wearables and, while doing so, predicted the introduction of AirPods.  While they not yet have all the features I forecast - foremost among them the current lack of an 'always on' capability - I think the general ideas expressed in the article are still valid: that Apple is adding and integrating ever more wearables to its product line in order to seamlessly blend the virtual world with the real one.  In some not-too-distant future, the iPhone will rarely leave your pocket - yet manage all your computing needs.

Once one realizes this, Apple's "next big thing" becomes quite obvious: AR glasses.  Apple already laid the groundwork by its introduction of ARKit.  This software - which already has thousands of developers creating new experiences for hundreds of millions of iPhones running iOS 11 - is paving the way for the day the glasses arrive.  Thousands of AR apps will be ready to project their content onto the glasses rather than your iPhone's screen.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to predict AR glasses.  After all, Google already developed a pair a couple years ago, Snapchat tried its (limited) hand at it.   But as with all other portable electronic gadgets, it will be Apple to do it right.  So what is "right"?  To answer that, we again look back at Google Glass - what were its shortcomings?  Well, there was the now infamous recording feature that caused its wearers to eventually receive the label of 'glassholes'.  So Apple's version will avoid recording video - at least until AR glasses have become ubiquitous.  Google Glass also had notoriously short battery life.  Why?  Because Google tried to do too much "on-board".  Instead of being a companion device, Google tried to stuff a complete computer - i.e. CPU, memory, video controller, storage, networking, etc. - into the temples of the glass frame.  Since glasses have to remain light in order to be worn comfortably, the amount of battery capacity they could stuff into the glasses was too limited.  Therefore, I predict that Apple's AR glasses will have just enough electronics to let it receive instructions on what pixels to project onto the glasses and to send onboard sensor/camera data back to an iPhone.  It might even use its existing AirPlay tech for the display aspects.