Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz took the stage at the Code Media conference today with some new details about his company’s much-anticipated headset, Magic Leap One.
Here’s what we just learned (and what we still don’t know) about Magic Leap
CEO Rony Abovitz shared some new tidbits at Code Media 2018.
Asa Mathat
You can watch the full video of his interview right here:
But if you’re short on time, here’s a cheat sheet to some of the new tidbits he shared. Unfortunately, answers to some of the biggest questions — like when in 2018 the headset is coming out and how much it will cost, exactly — are still M.I.A.
It’s not augmented reality (or so they say). Some people call what Magic Leap is doing “augmented reality,” because the headset will display digital media on top of the real world. Some call it “mixed reality” because those digital things will be integrated into your environment — for example, you’ll be able to pin NBA highlights to your wall, effectively creating a TV screen where none exists. But because people now think of “augmented reality” as something you do with your phone, Abovitz has his own confusing term for what Magic Leap is doing: “Spatial computing.”
The headset may come in multiple sizes. A promotional video for the headset featured NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal wearing the headset. After the video, Abovitz confirmed that the 7-foot-1-inch basketball-star-turned-commentator was wearing a “Magic Leap Large,” which, as The Verge’s Adi Robertson pointed out, seems to confirm that there will be multiple sizes of the headset:
It will cost some amount of money that is maybe affordable to some people. The starting price of Magic Leap One will be in the vicinity of a high-end PC, Abovitz said. And over time, the “floor” of the hardware’s price will be comparable to a high-end smartphone. But in the long run, he argued, the advent of Magic Leap will supposedly make your gadgets cheaper. Abovitz repeated a claim he’s made before, that the glasses might one day replace your computer and smartphone.
It’s still coming out sometime this year. Magic Leap has been seeding the hardware to certain users since last year, Abovitz said, but they’re under nondisclosure agreements. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who spoke with Abovitz onstage at Code Media, signed that same NDA — so he can’t tell you exactly what it’s like, either. We’re not sure if you still have to sign an NDA when you buy it.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
