back to article Analyst dons Tim Cook mask, thinks: Glass went well for Google. Let's do that, too

Apple is possibly looking to develop its own augmented reality headset. Industry analyst Gene Munster speculates that Cupertino is brewing up its own device to compete with the likes of Google Glass. "Based on conversations with industry contacts within the virtual and augmented reality spaces, we believe Apple has a small …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    not as big as electric car project?

    Apple can afford to have spare engineers tinkering around on any tech.

  2. SuccessCase

    I predict the Pope is going to say a prayer sometime in the coming week.

  3. mr0c
    FAIL

    For what it's worth, Gene has been forecasting the release of the Apple TV soon for the past five years.

    I'll pass on any advice he gives.

  4. ecarlseen

    Ive said "Meh, no."

    In recent interviews, Jony Ive said that he didn't like the Google glass concept from an aesthetic or functionality standpoint (comes between the user and the world, as opposed to a watch which is relatively unobtrusive). They may do something for gaming or other virtual world stuff, but I don't suspect that an "Apple Glasshole" product is in the making.

    In any case, it doesn't seem to be their cup of tea anyway. Most tech companies start with the technology and try to fit it into products. Apple (for better or worse, depending on your preference), starts with the user experience, then works on aesthetics, and only then do they drive their engineers (electrical, mechanical, and software) to the brink of insanity trying to make it all work. For Apple, technology is the last step rather than the first.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm sure Apple investigates a lot of stuff

    Maybe rumors make it outside of Apple. Sometimes I think analysts are just bored and bet each other over drinks whether they can make up a rumor that gets picked up by the press. $1K if it gets picked up by The Register, $5K if it gets picked up by CNet, $10K if it makes the front page of finance,yahoo.com $100K if it makes the WSJ!

    1. jai

      Re: I'm sure Apple investigates a lot of stuff

      WSJ will run with any old rubbish, I doubt they warrant even $100 bet.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Won't anyone ever learn...

    the first four letters of the word ANALyst give a huge clue!.

    Yeah what comes out of the ANAL region but crap! and that's what ANALysts tend to talk. It's their job to make these wild guesses and if in the process it swings the price of shares up or down a few cents and allows their overlords and masters to make a profit by buying low and selling high then all is good.

    Don't listen to Analysts. I would rather listen to Wan Ka over at the Apple manufacturing plant in China and find out what's going on in there than trust what some analyst says.

  7. Mitoo Bobsworth
    Coat

    Analysts

    Looks like Gene Munster is ready to make a spectacle of himself again.

    (Sorry, it was so obvious, I HAD to use it! Leaving now...)

  8. james 68

    Await the hypocrisy.

    And if they do then I guarantee that all those news sites (TheRegister most definitely included) that berated Google glass and called the users glassholes will be jerking themselves into a sticky frenzy describing how wonderful and innovative and world changing it is, because it'll have a little apple logo, even though it'll look like "Lady" Gaga boned a facehugger,

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Google has withdrawn its ill-fated Google Glass headset from the market,

    ERM, no they haven't..

    The media used google glass fire cheap shots, clickbaiting. Pretending that it's something you would wear at the shops, and that it's price tag ( which was intentionally high to deter consumers form buying a prototype) was it's final RRP.

    The only people to come out badly are the tech press that made themselves look like clueless idiots..

    1. User McUser
      Alert

      Re: Google has withdrawn its ill-fated Google Glass headset from the market,

      Pretending that it's something you would wear at the shops [...]

      To be absolutely clear, wearing one's Google Glass in shops (well, everywhere really) was explicitly part of Google's own marketing material. Like they showed in the very first video for Glass (specifically around the 1min mark for wearing it in shops.)

  10. lurker

    Glass

    Strange how many people completely fail to understand the point of Glass, which was never intended to be a commercial product at this stage, being more in the way of an R&D exercise. Par for the course for the BBC News, but you might expect a bit more acumen from a 'tech' news site.

  11. BrendHart

    Google is synonymous with creepy invasion of privacy

    I am a firm believer that if a consumer electronics company pitched a concept like glass it would do well. The name Google has become synonymous with privacy invasion and ad sales- if not consciously than subconsciously.

    Give me a pair of glasses that has the functionality of Glass but which doesn't exist to serve me adverts and track my every move and I will buy it.

  12. jubtastic1

    Meh

    Apple cars seem more likely to hit the streets than apple eyewear, automobiles are in the process of switching to fully automated items, the tech is ready and there's plenty of places to unobtrusively hide it in a car.

    AR tech on the other hand currently dominates prototype headgear and needs another 5 years or so of miniturisation before anyone can make a pair of AR sunglasses indistinguishable from ordinary sunglasses, that's when Apple will release a product*, and to be ready for that moment of course they're going to have to test ideas and concepts with the bulky tech of today.

    *Actually they tend to go ahead just a shade before the tech is ready, to the point that generally people agree that the second revision of a product is the one that fully realised the potential, eg: iPhone3G, iPad2, Macbook Air, Apple Watch II.

    1. The Indomitable Gall

      @Jubtastic1

      " another 5 years or so of miniturisation before anyone can make a pair of AR sunglasses indistinguishable from ordinary sunglasses, that's when Apple will release a product* "

      Except that sunglasses are currently getting larger, specifically because designers need them to be big enough to carry a brand and be recognisable. Apple want to be visible and recognisable, so getting right down to sunglasses size isn't strictly necessary....

  13. AMBxx Silver badge
    Boffin

    Patents

    Just waiting for the patent application - two lenses perched on nose, supported by hooks behind ears.

    1. james 68

      Re: Patents

      optional rose tint?

  14. DerekCurrie

    Google Glass Gaffe ≠ Apple Aping

    Rather than ridicule Gene Munster's silly assertions, I think I'll move along to the next...

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'd be up for a decent HUD provided that:

    1) The video camera (if any) has a hard cover that has to be slid aside/opened before filming. Will protect the lens and also make it very obvious to bystanders whether you're recording or not

    2) No connection to Google, Apple, FB, or any of them.

    3) It was designed so that you don't look like too much of a twat

    1. The Indomitable Gall

      " 1) The video camera (if any) has a hard cover that has to be slid aside/opened before filming. Will protect the lens and also make it very obvious to bystanders whether you're recording or not "

      No it won't -- there are plenty of AR apps that will could make use of the camera without recording being on -- real-time text translation, for example.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        It would be obvious that you're not recording, then, and that's the important bit. From the point of view of the HUD-user; you're not going to get randomly battered by people who think you're filming them if there's an obvious cover over the lens.

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