After years of sustained mystery and raising venture capital funding of more than $2 billion, the Florida-based Magic Leap has made its signature 3D software product live, the company announced Wednesday.
The product comes in the form of goggles that a user puts on his or her head to use computer programs and applications, as well as common internet browsers. Using virtual reality to make the world around the user become immersed in a personal 3D computer, Magic Leap has been hailed by some as the future of our interaction with the digital world.
As of Wednesday, the $2,295 pair of goggles named the Magic Leap One Creator Edition is available in six cities throughout the U.S.
“Magic Leap has promised so much for so long, with no results to speak of, that many of those who occupied that first wave of hype have written off all hope that its infamous, mythical, mixed-reality product is real at all, let alone the transformative technology it set out to be,” a recent Wired story said of the company.
Company executives have been wary that all the initial hype may have faded during a four-year wait from an initial $500 million investment from Google. However, the startup was just valued at $6.3 billion per AT&T, which joined in recently as an investor, showing the immense promise that the company and product still have.
Founder Rony Abovitz was complimentary of Florida as a state that has helped foster the growth of Magic Leap and been cooperative in investing in and allowing the startup to flourish during this long wait period.
“Florida has always been a blank canvas for innovation, and we hope to be one small part of that incredible story,” he said in a statement published on Phys.org. “Our launch of Magic Leap One Creator Edition begins the next chapter of our journey to empower creators in Florida, the U.S., and around the world. This is a joyful moment for all of our employees, and we look forward to working with a diverse and forward-thinking set of developers, artists, creators, and businesses right here in Florida and everywhere.”
Check out this video review from The Verge below:
