PTC and Magic Leap are teaming up to offer industrial and enterprise customers an augmented reality tool set that combines Vuforia Engine software with the Magic Leap One headset.
Magic Leap is under fire following a report by The Information for low sales, 6,000 units sold, and generally misleading investors and the public about the mixed reality technology it once touted as an extraordinary “magic leap” for computing devices. After a few years of teasers, advertising and marketing, the Magic Leap One Developer Edition came out and was widely panned as nowhere near as innovative as promised. Nonetheless, it is perhaps the only competitor with Microsoft HoloLens. The two dueling augmented reality (AR) headsets were in competition for a lucrative Department of Defense contract worth $500 million, which Magic Leap lost.
(Image courtesy of Magic Leap.)
Switching its focus to industrial and enterprise rather than consumer clients, the Magic Leap One headset will now have access to the innovative features of PTC’s Vuforia Engine, such as its differentiated artificial intelligence (AI)-based Model Target technology. PTC has long served industrial and enterprise customers with its other products, Creo for example. The promise of AR for streamlining large-scale product design, improving training and streamlining maintenance, repair, operations (MRO) is still appealing to major enterprise and industrial entities.
With the pressure of providing a consumer AR headset for the masses off the table, Magic Leap can focus on customers who can afford the hardware, providing the time and investing the resources into developing custom applications for the Magic Leap One.
This has potential benefits for industrial and enterprise clients facing uncertainties in a few key areas, including skilled workforce shortages, cost efficiency and unstable global trade issues. As the digitization of nearly every process continues for industrial and enterprise customers, creating custom applications that could yield significant cost savings are advantageous for both the short-term and long-term.
Click here for more details on the new strategic alliance between Vuforia Engine and Magic Leap One.