Augmented Reality is Bigger Than the Smartphone

It's going to change everything about how we interact with the world

It’s important to remember the smartphone has a very long history starting over a decade before the iPhone was released. One of the first was the Nokia 9000iL, my original of which I have on display in my entry hallway.

This was a smartphone capable of web browsing, faxing, reading email, editing spreadsheets, and a whole lot more released in 1996 before there was such a thing as mobile data networks. To connect to the internet, you put in your dial up internet service provider’s details, and it literally called them up and used a built in 9600 baud modem to connect. That’s right. It was a mobile phone that used dial up internet. It was ingenious. I was trading stocks online during class as a sophomore in high school in 1999.

Then came the wave of PDAs. I had a HP iPad in college. While not a phone, it was a very advanced device for its time. It connected over my college’s wifi and could play music, movies, browse the web, kept my calendar, check my email, play games, install apps, etc. It did almost everything a modern iPhone can do. And, it was secured with a fingerprint reader. In 2002. People’s minds were blown when I would go on vacation with them and sit back and watch a movie on my little device. While they didn’t see the future, I had for a very long time.

When the iPhone came out, I actually had what I considered a superior phone, the Nokia E90, which I still consider the pinnacle of all smartphones. It was a dual screen clamshell device built like a tank. Unlike the original iPhone, you could install apps, of which I had many. Compared to when the original iPhone came out, it had a lot more capabilities, like a spreadsheet editor 100% compatible with Excel files. As a business school student this was very useful. I recall showing it during an interview at an investment bank where the person interviewing me immediately ordered a slew of them for his team so they could edit their models remotely. It was a beautiful phone, and I still use it as my backup to this day. Once again, it’s on display in my hallway.

I owned probably a dozen of other such phones along the way that paved the way for the iPhone and quite frankly, to this day, there is nothing special or remarkable about the iPhone that sets it apart other than Apple (or Google) with their overwhelming marketing power have been able to drive out competition and corner the market. Quite frankly it makes me sad since all the competition back then meant a lot of new features were constantly added and we’re now at a point of real stagnation.

But I digress.

Augmented reality is just around the corner. Supposedly, Apple is finally unveiling its mixed reality headset at WWDC. While I find mixed reality interesting, it’s really AR that I think is going to change the world.

If you’ve ever owned a car with a heads up display, you know how quickly you adapted to it and how it became integral to your use of the car.

Now imagine a heads up display for the world- except far, far, far more advanced.

Similar to the smartphone, AR will start slow I’m sure. There are tremendous technical challenges. From battery life, to screen resolution, to how to input data…it’s an immense challenge. But like the smartphone, give it a decade or so, and we won’t be able to live without it.

Just imagine with me. First, replace your Apple Watch with lightweight glasses. The time and weather forecast are easily displayed. As are any directions you need, either walking or in a car. So is the name and any recent social media updates of any friend you bump into to assist you in a more fluid conversation. So are your notes for each slide during a presentation. Or your path down a mountain while skiing, along with your speed, calories burned, etc.. In fact, apply that to any physical activity. Incoming callers, texts, emails, and any desired notifications are displayed, and you can easily reply back instantly. You can watch videos while keeping your head up. You can have cooking instructions displayed with it highlighting each ingredient in your field of view. When you shop, it can guide you to the exact location of each item on your shopping list in the store. When you’re on a date, AI will suggest topics to discuss based up the person’s profile and your shared interests as well as listen and covertly give you feedback. When you stare at the stars, it’ll highlight constellations, planets, and any passing satellites. When you look at a plane, it’ll tell you what flight it is. It’ll identify landmarks, rivers, roads, and anything else you look at. It can instantly tell you what music is playing wherever you are. It’ll alert you when a celebrity just walked by.

Imagine not having to own a TV since you can just watch it on your AR glasses. Or having your walls filled with AR art.

And I’m not even scratching the surface. The ways AR will be used are countless, currently beyond our imagination, and will change our daily life more than any single invention perhaps other than the smartphone or the internet of the last century.

My one and only hope is that it is protected from intrusive advertising which will kill this wonderful technology. I’m fairly sure Apple has thought of that but I worry Meta and Google, who’s whole businesses are built on data gathering and selling ads probably do not have our best interests in mind.

Quite frankly, I was never much of a believer in VR. It’s too niche. But AR, as a natural advancement of the Apple Watch, has wide and diverse applications. I am excited beyond belief at how this technology will change out lives. We need to remember to be patient as all emerging technologies take time to reach their full potential, but someday we might see AR powered corrective contact lenses with all of the capabilities above and so, so much more that we can’t even dream of.

I’ll leave you with the only video I’ve seen to this day that truly demonstrates the potential of AR. And it was created in 2012. I’m still inspired by it. Enjoy.