Telecom giant bets on smart glasses

Deutsche Telekom creates startup with Carl Zeiss amid augmented-reality push

Deutsche Telekom AG has created a digital-glasses startup with manufacturer Carl Zeiss AG, as Europe’s biggest telecoms company joins the race to develop usable augmentedreality devices.

The startup, Tooz Technologies Inc., is developing glasses using optics invented by Zeiss, along with Deutsche Telekom’s connectivity services in a bid to make spectacles that are lighter and use less energy.

“We need connectivity with a cloud that’s available everywhere if we want to have real-time applications,” said Deutsche Telekom’s Christian Stangier. The companies plan to license the technology to producers of smart glasses.

It’s a business that’s become tough for even tech giants to crack.

Intel Corp. has pared back some of its consumer-product efforts after failing to make progress in the market for wearable technology. It plans to sell a majority stake in its augmented reality business, which is intended to start offering smart glasses to consumers as soon as this year.

Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. are developing their own connected eyewear products, while Google refocused its Google Glass devices on business customers after an aborted attempt to sell to consumers. The market for augmented- and virtualreality hardware could be worth as much as $110 billion (U.S.) by 2025, with another $72 billion in software revenue, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. estimates.