The Wall Street Journal has reported that Intel is in development of an augmented reality headset meant to take on Microsoft"s HoloLens, entering a headset market that is getting increasingly crowded. This will not be a virtual reality system, such as the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift, but a headset meant to superimpose information on top of the real world like a video game head"s up display.
The plan is to distinguish its solution from the crowd through use of its proprietary 3-D Real Sense camera technology, allowing for a great deal of depth sense and accurate imaging from the user"s surroundings, as well as technology from their recent round of acquisitions and investments in the augmented reality world.
It"s unlikely that Intel will bring their headset directly to market for purchase by consumers, as they generally produce reference designs for their hardware partners to pick up and improve upon. Brian Mullins, CEO of Daqri, one of Intel"s major partners on augmented reality, had this to say "There is an awareness at Intel that they didn’t play as big a role in the mobile space as they would like. They understand that wearables and augmented and virtual reality are the next big platform."
In the meantime, it appears that Intel is headed in a more business focused area of mounted eyewear, as opposed to HTC and Oculus who are approaching virtual reality as the new frontier of gaming. With HoloLens and the Vive approaching their first public releases, it will be interesting to see how Intel"s solution will compete with those nearly ready for mass consumption.
Source: Stuff.tv