Does anyone see this actually catching on in the next five years and becoming something more than a gimmick?
I'm as excited about the prospect of viewing the world through a HUD as the next guy, but I can't imagine these glasses looking sleek in the slightest, and they will likely be rather bulky.
But beyond ugliness, it seems to me that someone would rather pull out their smartphone than put on a pair of HUD glasses for any given use case for this product. Augmented reality is "cool" but I've never used an AR app more than two days after I downloaded it.
I think for it to catch on, this technology would have to be baked into glasses that are designed to be worn all the time, not just put on when needed. People aren't going to carry around AR glasses in their back pocket with their phones and wallets. So a place to start might be enhancing the glasses used by people with vision trouble, rather than creating a whole new glasses product.
I can think of two markets that this may do well in: motorcyclists and runners.
Motorcycle HUDs have existed for quite some time now, but more competition especially from someone as big as Google will inject some much needed innovation.
I can also see this being popular with running enthusiasts. During my races I wear a paper band around my wrist with my ideal times for each mile, and then have my GPS watch set to show instantaneous pace. A race involves constantly looking between watch, paper printout and your surroundings. If I had a HUD, I might even enjoy the race a bit :) (that was slightly sarcastic)
I'm as excited about the prospect of viewing the world through a HUD as the next guy, but I can't imagine these glasses looking sleek in the slightest, and they will likely be rather bulky.
But beyond ugliness, it seems to me that someone would rather pull out their smartphone than put on a pair of HUD glasses for any given use case for this product. Augmented reality is "cool" but I've never used an AR app more than two days after I downloaded it.
I think for it to catch on, this technology would have to be baked into glasses that are designed to be worn all the time, not just put on when needed. People aren't going to carry around AR glasses in their back pocket with their phones and wallets. So a place to start might be enhancing the glasses used by people with vision trouble, rather than creating a whole new glasses product.