A startup is making a wireless, see-through augmented-reality headset powered by the iPhone that it will sell for $99—a move that may pique the interest of programmers and early adopters who are curious about mixing digital objects with the real world but don’t want to pony up for pricier headsets like Microsoft’s HoloLens. The headset, made by Mira, is like an AR version of Samsung’s Gear VR, which gives users a virtual-reality experience when they insert one of a few Samsung smartphones. With Mira’s Prism headset, though, the phone is positioned away from your face, and images shown on its display—one for each eye, as with stereoscopic 3-D for virtual reality—reflect off a clear lens and into your eyes so you perceive virtual objects at depth in front of you.
$99 Headset Could Be Augmented Reality’s First True Chance at a Mass Market - MIT Technology Review
But fashion and price don’t matter to companies eager for technologies to help their employees work more efficiently. The defense contractor Raytheon and the electronics maker Mitsubishi Electric, among other large companies, have been trying augmented reality in the workplace and out in the field. “Some companies are thinking, ‘Look, this is interesting enough, we’ll take some bets on it, we believe there’s a good chance. At least we want to have a first mover’s advantage compared to our competitors,’” says Soulaiman Itani, founder and CEO of Atheer Labs, which is making 3-D virtual reality software and glasses. The Mountain View, California-based company is working on some small pilot tests with companies—he won’t say which ones—to try augmented reality in hospitals, on construction sites, and in factories. The augmented-reality software startup Daqri, based in Los Angeles, is also getting companies to explore the technology. Like Atheer, Daqri sees head-worn displays as the way we will eventually use the technology, but for now much of its focus is on smartphone and tablet displays.