Can someone, anyone try to explain why Magic Leap keeps getting money thrown at them? Series D and not even a whisper of a product. What is going on in the tech industry?
There have been several articles over the past months about an upcoming launch and descriptions of the product. It's just that people here only like to discuss the funding articles because it's easier to cast doubt.
It seems reasonable to doubt that a company who have never publicly demo'd their product and who are facing an increasingly crowded marketplace with big name competitors (e.g. Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Apple, Valve) and who have been in stealth mode for several years, actually have a chance of justifying their valuation...
There currently is no AR consumer device. If they launch within the next 6 months, as rumored, they are in a very good position. That being said, I didn't say there isn't reason to be skeptical. Just that most people are oblivious to the leaks because it's easier to talk smack about them getting funding without a public product yet.
If they could launch a consumer price level AR device in the next 6 months I would agree with you.
However last I heard on the product front the price point that was being floated was $3000 which is way out of the consumer ballpark and into the business ballpark where hololens is already gaining traction.
The thing that surprises me about Magic leap is investors exuberance. Even if they totally nail the 1st gen. product they've still got a mountain to climb in terms of beating out well funded competition who are ahead of them in terms of shipping product.
Hopefully 2018 will see them finally ship, so people can move off speculation into evaluating what they've got...