Starting from June 5, a very hot week will begin for all technology enthusiasts, especially for developers belonging to the Apple ecosystem. In fact, WWDC 23 will begin, the conference that Apple dedicates to them every year, to the technicians who create the applications for all Apple products and who, over the years, have contributed with their work to transforming a collection of products into a real ecosystem of applications, contents and services.
Usually on the first day of WWDC there is an opening event in which Apple presents the new software: what functions the next versions of the operating systems will have for all the individual devices and what is the path mapped out for the future in the creation of applications. Sometimes some new products are previewed, to give developers the opportunity to start developing their applications and be immediately prepared for when the products will actually be available on the market. This is the case, for example, of the transition from Intel processors to Apple Silicon, presented at the 2020 WWDC.
This year there is a persistent rumor that suggests the presentation of a completely new product: Apple’s Smart Glasses.
Anyone who knows me knows that in my opinion Smart Glasses will represent the real revolution of this decade, they will completely change the relationship between humans and machines, and will gradually replace smartphones. I have spoken and written about it almost everywhere in the last few years, starting with my latest book Increased Lives which talks about this revolution.
The product that will presumably be presented by Apple will probably be embryonic and only a distant relative of the truly revolutionary device that will arrive in its subsequent versions, a bit like it was for the very first iPhone which didn’t even have an application store and, just think, it didn’t even have a copy and paste mode.
However I tried to list the features that would make it really a “next big thing”, a new milestone not only in the world of technology, but above all a device capable of paving the way in the definition of a completely new mode of communication between beings humans and machines. Just like it was for smartphones.
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Eyeglasses
First of all we are talking about Smart Glasses, i.e. smart glasses, which means adding smart features to an object that we know well and which is used daily by millions of people all over the world. The eyewear itself has characteristics that make it easy to use: lightness, comfort, the ability to improve vision in those with vision problems, an aesthetic connotation. These are essential characteristics for a device for daily and continuous use, it is certainly unthinkable to keep heavy, bulky devices on your nose for a long time and which do not allow you to use prescription lenses. What is therefore needed is that it is a comfortable, light device suitable for use with corrective lenses, without this compromising its functionality.
Augmented reality and virtual reality features
Usually there is a tendency to associate virtual reality with completely immersive experiences in which the user has the possibility of accessing applications, contents and services, however disconnecting from physical reality. Conversely, augmented reality experiences allow you to access additional layers of information, but without losing touch with physical reality. For those who want to learn more about these topics, I suggest this article that I wrote in November 2020: The future is in Extended Reality.
What is needed in these new smart glasses is the possibility of accessing contents and applications that are projected directly within the user’s field of vision, superimposed on physical reality, therefore in “augmented reality” mode, however thanks to the use of lenses that can become opaque, an experience similar to that of virtual reality would be possible, even if not fully immersive.
In practice: I will be able to remain in “augmented reality” mode by looking at a monument and having additional tourist information in the glasses, or I will be able to switch to “virtual reality” mode and watch a TV series directly inside my glasses, even without having total immersion which could only be guaranteed by a dedicated helmet, but still having an excellent entertainment experience.
Continuous connectivity
Objects of this kind only make sense if they are constantly connected to the network. This is used to exchange data with other devices and to be able to use applications correctly.
High autonomy
Smart glasses will be another item to load. After smartphones, watches, bracelets, headphones and many other personal devices, another one will be added: glasses. This is unfortunately unavoidable. However, what could be avoidable is the need to recharge the glasses too frequently.
I’d like autonomy that allows me to recharge my glasses when I’m not using them, therefore basically at night, and that doesn’t force me to deprive myself of them during the day. The high autonomy is therefore a key element to ensure the success of the product.
All the functions and applications you need
I would like smart glasses capable of performing all the basic tasks that we usually entrust to smartphones: making calls, taking photographs, recording videos, receiving and sending messages. All this as basic functions, without having to resort to external applications.
Third-party applications will obviously be downloadable from a special store, exactly as is the case with smartphones today. These will be applications with different functioning compared to their analogs for smartphones, due to the different modes of interaction that will need to be used.
From the moment of presentation it is desirable that there is a complete SDK complete with a simulator, to allow developers to bring their applications to these new devices, so that they can be immediately available on the day the product is launched on the market.
It is possible that, in the initial versions, these devices will have to delegate processing to other more performing parts of the ecosystem, such as the smartphone, but when fully operational they will be completely autonomous until they take the place of the smartphone itself, as previously mentioned.
A complete ecosystem
Apple over time has accustomed us to take advantage of its complete ecosystem. The ability to move the task you are carrying out from one device to another with a good dose of naturalness, the sharing of information between different devices with just a few gestures, the fact of having all your devices in a single network capable of take advantage of this membership.
A new device of this family can only be part of this ecosystem itself, with the possibility of sharing applications, contents and services, even if with different methods of use, with all the other devices of the same user and with the advantage of having devices that can authenticate each other, simplifying access to the devices themselves and the data they contain.
Controlled with gestures and voice
Obviously the glasses won’t be equipped with keyboards, pointing devices or touch screens, so it will be necessary to use other modes of interaction to get what we want. In this sense, voice and gestures will help us, two complementary methods capable of fully interacting with the device and with all its applications. This type of interaction will allow us to transform these devices into real wearable virtual assistants, with which to speak in natural language to obtain information and services.
We are used to having somewhat poor voice assistants, who understand little what we say and who find it difficult to carry out the tasks we ask for, this is due to the difficulty of vocal interaction. However, generative AIs such as Chat GPT have shown us how a new form of interaction, much more quality, is actually possible. It is therefore probable that even the voice assistants we are used to today, such as Siri and Alexa, will improve a lot in the near future thanks to the integration with generative algorithms. These new versions will quickly become the voices of our personal virtual assistants, to whom we can also ask tasks that are much more complex than what we now ask of their current versions.
However, it cannot be excluded that there may be some small physical buttons dedicated to particular functions on the device.
Biometric authentication
I would like access to these devices to take place through multiple biometrics: recognition of the user’s face, iris scanning and, if necessary, voice recognition. No more pins, emails, passwords and so on. Multiple biometrics only.
A quality operating system
This feature may seem obvious, but unfortunately it is not. In the past, Apple has skimped on features on some platforms, such as the iPad, in order not to create internal competition with other products, such as the Mac. The hope is that these new devices are not born limited in terms of software to try to slow down transition that will lead to the disappearance of smartphones in favor of smart glasses.
In short, I would like a pair of smart glasses to use instead of my prescription glasses, with which to access content, applications and services and which, over time, can take the place of my smartphone, without however losing functionality, on the contrary, on the contrary, making the whole user experience much easier and more natural.
We are facing the beginning of an epochal revolution in the interaction between human beings and machines and for this I hope that, if not all of them, the new Apple product can have at least some of these characteristics, in order to definitively trigger this transition process .