KGI Securities’ Ming-Chi Kuo issued a new research note to investors on Wednesday regarding his vision for Apple’s augmented reality efforts. In the letter, the noted analyst says that we likely won’t see these efforts for 1-2 years, but when we do they will redefine Apple’s current products and open up new categories.
All of Apple’s past successes were related to human-machine interfaces, such as mouse for Mac, click wheel for iPod, and multi-touch for iPhone and iPad.
Assuming Apple successfully develops AR, we predict the firm will enjoy the following competitive advantages: (1) redefining existing key products and leading competitors by three to five years. For instance, this could happen for iPhone, iPad and Mac; (2) eliminating obstacles of Apple Watch and Apple TV by offering an innovative user experience; and (3) entering new business fields, such as autonomous driving system.
We expect Apple to generate preliminary results for AR in the next 1-2 years at the earliest and working with iPhone may be the first step.
Apple has plenty of augmented reality-related patents and experts in its war chest, and CEO Tim Cook can’t seem to stop raving about the tech. Combine that with all of the rumors we’ve heard regarding Project Titan and Apple’s interest in developing an autonomous driving system, and it’s possible that Kuo is onto something.
Source: MacRumors