State startup Magic Leap introduces first product
Magic Leap, the Florida-based startup that has raised $1.9 billion in financing and employs thousands, introduced its first product last week.
The Magic Leap One: Creator Edition is a wearable computer that combines Magic Leap’s “Digital Lightfield” technology, visual perception and machine learning. The company said it will let users interact with digital content in the real world. A price was not announced with the product — shipping won’t start until an undisclosed date in 2018, said Julia Gaynor, spokeswoman for Magic Leap.
The first product is geared toward the “creator community,” which includes developers and the entertainment industry that could use the device to create content, she said.
The company describes its technology as generating digital light blended with natural light “to produce lifelike digital objects that coexist in the real world. This advanced technology allows our brain to naturally process digital objects the same way we do realworld objects, making it comfortable to use for long periods of time.”
But Gaynor said she expects that “very excited early adopters will buy this product.”
“We want other people to come on the journey with us,” she said. No technical expertise is needed for an “out-of-the-box experience.”
So where can you buy the product? No orders are being taken at this time, but those interested can sign up to be notified of shipping on Magic Leap’s website, magicleap.com.
Magic Leap announced its first product on its website, where visitors can get a glimpse of how the device operates, as well as via email.
Gaynor said the device “understands where you are and where other things are and where the environment is,” she said. Asked whether two people could wear the products and interact, she responded: “There are all kinds of possibilities.”
“Where we are in our life cycle, we felt we were ready to share with the world where we are. Until now, we were working hard behind the scenes,” she said. “Now we’re ready to show it to the world.”
Gaynor said there was no pressure from investors to launch a product.
Major investors in Magic Leap include Google and Chinese ecommerce company Alibaba. Technology blogs and websites have taken Magic Leap to task for raising so much money but not yet producing a product. The Magic Leap One is likely to be one of many products in the pipeline as the company has filed more than 100 patents.
The company has had ties to University of Central Florida, via College of Optics and Photonics researchers who have gone on to work with Magic Leap. Founder Rony Abovitz has drawn hundreds of millions of dollars in investments in recent years — and has said Magic Leap would be “the size of Apple.” It has a presence in U.S. tech-hub cities including Santa Cruz, Los Angeles and Mountain View, Calif.; Seattle; and Austin, Texas; as well as in New Zealand.
Magic Leap’s announcement of its first product is a “great sign” of things to come from the company, Bob Swindell, president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance, Broward County’s economic development organization; Magic Leap is based in Plantation. Alliance executives were invited to see the technology a few months ago and they were as excited as “kids,” Swindell said. “It’s pretty cool technology.”
The state, Plantation, Broward have pledged $9 million in incentives for Magic Leap’s $150 million capital investment in its headquarters and the creation of at least 725 jobs. Swindell said Magic Leap recently was mentioned at an international real estate conference he attended, earning attention.
“Any time you invest, you take a chance,” Plantation Mayor Diane Veltri Bendekovic said. “I wasn’t one bit worried because I knew they had a braintrust in that building, and if there were some kinks, they would figure it out …
“People want [a product] yesterday, and that’s not reality,” she added.