Images on your devices
cracks and defects over time,” said Ward, IKIN’s chief executive. “The goal is to continue to explore business-to-business opportunities while at the same time producing a consumer product.”
IKIN’s second project is an accessory display that attaches to smartphones to enable holographic images on handsets.
Estimated to cost under $500, the RYZ display is expected to launch sometime next year. It includes a software kit that can be uploaded into the Unity 3D development platform.
Unity is a popular game engine used by software developers across desktop, mobile, console and virtual reality platforms.
The RYZ kit allows developers to repurpose existing content and apps to enable holograms, as well as create new holographic content. “Literally right now all
the applications that exist on a phone are ready to be translated into a holographic environment,” said Griffith.
The roughly 20-employee company has raised about $15 million in seed money since it was founded. It is now seeking to raise an additional $20.9 million, according to filings with the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Abbruzzese, the ABI Research analyst, said IKIN’s challenge will be getting content creators on board and making its technology easy to use. It is still “early days,” he said.
“I hesitate to make the comparison to 3D TVs, but I think it is apt,” said Abbruzzese.
“Even if the content is there, the interest might not be. There have been attempts at glassesfree 3D — holographics being sort of the next step for 3D — and it never really caught on.”