Magic Leap Inc is slowly introducing its new products to the world step by step. Some developers will get to test the products while others only get to develop an app for the platform. The Magic Leap One glasses (Image via Magic Leap)
Secrecy, a concept many have learned earlier in life through moments like making a wish before blowing one’s birthday cake’s candles or writing a letter to Santa at Christmas, has become very important in maintaining the competition between companies offering the same products. When it comes to augmented reality, the leading company is Microsoft Corporation, but a young technology company is making its way to claim that throne.
Known to be very secretive with its creations, Magic Leap Inc. is a technology startup headquartered in Florida and expert in augmented reality products, which is known to keep its creations very private till they are ready to be on the market. However, with its new product Magic Leap One, the company is adopting a new strategy before the release at the end of the year. Out of fear of losing the prototype, the company decided to allow only a few developers to test Magic Leap One and, on a few conditions including keeping the device in a safe.
The first samples of Magic Leap One resemble as large sunglasses marked with a few camera lenses. To complement the glasses, there is a disc-like device the user can attach to his belt, which is the brain processing all the data the glasses collect. To navigate smoothly through this virtual world, the user also receives in the same package a remote. But to see or even get to try out the set, developers must fulfill a list of requirements so long that one firm rejected the offer to test the product, according to a source that can’t be revealed due to Magic Leap’s confidentiality rules.
Magic Leap One can only be tested in an environment that the startup deems safe, away from any possible connection with competition or the public. Every person who got a look at the product had to sign a non-disclosure agreement prior. All those security measures are ground enough for some people to wonder if the Magic Leap’s competences; and rumors spread by ex-employees of the company are not helping its cause.
Regardless, the company continues its quest to dominate the field of AR, and for that, it needs to compete with Microsoft’s prices. When released in 2016, Microsoft’s AR glasses sold for less than $5,000 but more than $3,000. So, Magic Leap plans to sell Magic Leap One for as little as $1,500. Another point of comparison between the two devices is the way they present objects in the virtual world based on their distance from the eyes. Magic Leap One seems to blur objects that are further from the eyes of the user, just like the eyes would.
Recognized as a startup with plenty of capital for its operations, Magic Leap is not just designing AR products; the company also manufactures their inventions and intends to build the digital platform to go with. So, while it is battling to keep the specificities of the device secret, the startup is also looking for developers interested in building games and applications to complement Magic Leap One more.
To sign up, game developers will need to sign some legal agreements and have their identity verified through email. Once accepted into the program, developers get access to material to educate them about Magic Leap One such as its operating system, Lumin OS. There is also a place for developers to sell their applications. This move might prove to the naysayers that Magic Leap is serious about putting its mark on the industry.
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