For anyone who didn't happen to notice, it should be noted that this review was written by Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus VR and designer of the Oculus Rift.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmer_Luckey" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmer_Luckey</a>
I've been in AR for almost a decade now and I have always been in the "we really need Magic Leap to work" camp, as well as recognizing just how hard it really is to do AR right. I'm also not a VR fan, but appreciate how its moved the needle on these technologies broadly. That said, Palmer makes his best points with these quotes:<p><i>sucked all the air out of the room in the AR space...allowed them to monopolize funding in the AR investment community</i><p>That is unquestionably what happened, as, if you talked with any major VC in the last 5 years they would admit that they were waiting on Magic Leap to make a move before they would really think about seriously funding anything else. So in that sense, it's been a constant frustration.<p>I'm still hopeful that Apple, Microsoft, FB or Google can make something compelling, and I think ML has been generally positively received - however it's always caveated as "these are the early days." Which is true, but the hype for ML has been unfortunate.<p>Again, consumer AR - especially HMD AR - is exceptionally hard to do right, so my hat is off to ML and the amazing people they have. However even Rony Abovitz (ML CEO) agrees that they were arrogant in their approach, and I think the end result is that it's hurt the AR industry in the larger sense.
This blog is going right into my special bookmarks folder along with "Microsoft Surface is on Slippery Ground" by Tim Cook and "Ford? More like BORED!" by Elon Musk.
Been anticipating this teardown ever since this hackernews post [1] comparing the promises with the patents and nailing the prediction that ML1 would be yet-another LCOS headset.<p>Frankly I've been cheerleading their implosion ever since this farce of a TED talk [2] in 2012. An opportunity to present their technology and they jump around in monster costumes wasting everyone's time. Thwaxo's Strangely Demented Space Fudge ? This was months after securing half a billion in funding. Just left a really bad taste in my mouth.<p>[1] <a href="https://hackernoon.com/what-is-magic-leap-really-642e1660fcc4" rel="nofollow">https://hackernoon.com/what-is-magic-leap-really-642e1660fcc...</a><p>[2] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8J5BWL8oJY" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8J5BWL8oJY</a>
I was blown away by Magic Leap when I tried it a couple weeks ago. I have no affiliation with the company and was skeptical beforehand. Maybe there are other things that are better, but it was really, really cool. It felt like a new kind of thing entirely.
Let's assume for the sake of a conversation that this article is right, and Magic Leap (ML) is lackluster. What is it exactly that makes VR tech so difficult, then? ML had all the money in the world, and still (presumably) couldn't hit the mark. What exactly is missing - is it the material sciences for eye-projection systems? Ability to downsize the graphics and processing tech into a small package?<p>What critical milestones are still missing that, when available, will allow truly immeresive VR? And anyone dare predict when they will be available?
Sadly Magic Leap I think had to ship something so they could start up a new hype cycle and get more funding.<p>Give it 3 months and they will be talking about how they didn’t expect to sell many of this first product anyway and now they are working on the “future for sure this time”..
Ever notice the similarity between Bitcoin and VR blogs and comments? Always, "it's early days," even after years of waiting for something useful.
Well, if the technology isn't impressive at least they still have Neal Stephenson. He may be able to create experiences that no other VR platform offers.<p><a href="https://magic-leap.reality.news/news/magic-leaps-neal-stephenson-reveals-what-its-like-create-content-for-secretive-startup-0183486/" rel="nofollow">https://magic-leap.reality.news/news/magic-leaps-neal-stephe...</a>
Didn’t VR have the same hype train surrounding it that led to Facebook dropping a cool billion on it to acquire Oculus? To date what do we really have to show in VR?<p>How is Oculus/Palmer any less guilty than Magic Leap? Give it 5 more years and I think we’ll call both initiatives a failure when compared against their promises.