MacBlogz - One Stop Apple News - Bridging the Apple Community and Keeping Tabs on the Rumor Mill.

Apple Developing Head Mounted Personal Viewers?

Ok folks, this one is totally out there. A recent report has divulged a claim that Apple, along with Sony, may be developing wearable, head-mounted video displays. Yes that’s right, iGoggles if you will.

The report goes on to note that not only will users be able to access media that is stored on iPods and iPhones, but will also have legitimate access to true computer functionality. As more encompassing multimedia experiences have been breaking ground, interest in such technologies have increased. Not only would products such as these capture consumer attention, but would provide extensive military applications as well.

“Today’s personal viewers provide video only with limited visibility of the environment. Sony and Apple are developing the next generation personal viewer, the navigation/video sunglasses. These products will offer navigation features in full see-through mode as well as video viewing with a clip-on to block the background. We expect that clip-ons will be available to provide both see-periphery views of the environment, as well as full blocking of the environment to enable video immersion when desired. This new versatile product generation will further accelerate acceptance and sales of personal viewers. “

The report notes that sales of personal viewers have seen dramatic growth. Consumer markets have been predicted to grow between $1.1B and $2.8B on the high end. This market growth has been factored to be driven by the emergence of major industry players, such as Apple.

As a side note, Myvu products are currently considered the best head-mountable goggles available. Although they’ve generally suffered through poor reviews, there still seems to be an interest in them, past the initial “WOW” factor.

[image via ElectricPig][Full Report]