Market Reality: Magic Leap Gets New AT&T Streaming App, 6D.Ai Partners with Qualcomm, & Ximmerse Previews Rhino X

While Magic Leap doesn't yet have a consumer edition of the Magic Leap One, that hasn't stopped AT&T from building apps for mainstream audiences for the headset.

Elsewhere, startup 6D.ai, a company that shares Magic Leap's dream of the AR cloud, officially released the iOS version of its platform from the confines beta while partnering with Qualcomm to supply spatial mapping to Snapdragon devices. Speaking of Snapdragon, AR hardware maker Ximmerse showed off its Rhino X headset, which bears some similarities to an AR headset from a galaxy far, far away.

Finally, Oculus CTO John Carmack took to the airwaves to preach the good word about AR and VR, while taking a shot at Magic Leap in the process.

AT&T Tests Magic Leap App for Streaming TV Service

The streaming content vision from Magic Leap recently underwent a quiet but major update, courtesy of AT&T.

Previously, Magic Leap's retail and 5G partner AT&T made its DirecTV Now streaming television service available to Magic Leap One users. But now that the company has launched its new service, AT&T TV, for regular TV viewers, it seems the augmented reality version needed an upgrade, too.

Continue reading for our impressions on the revamped app from AT&T and what it means for Magic Leap's mainstream aspirations...

REALITY BITES: Apple has officially set the date for the unveiling of its next wave of products, including iPhones. Invitations to media include the tagline "By innovation only." Since new editions of smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, wireless earbuds, and subscription services are hardly innovative at this point, could this be a hint toward something along the lines of smartglasses?

6D.Ai Launches AR Cloud & Partners with Qualcomm

Roughly six months after emerging from stealth, AR cloud company 6D.ai is now ready for public consumption, and it has a big name partner to help it kick off its platform. On Tuesday, the startup gave iOS developers the green light to begin publishing their 6D.ai-assisted apps to the App Store for wide use.

In addition, the company announced that its AR cloud platform would supply spatial mapping to head-mounted devices running on the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR1 chipset as well as tethered AR viewers and smartphones running on Qualcomm Snapdragon.

Read further to find out more about the rollout of the 6D.ai platform, which Qualcomm-supported device will take advantage of it first, and how much it will cost developers to deploy...

REALITY BITES: Interested in investing in augmented reality? The Motley Fool has identified three good options. Two of them, Adobe and Apple, are obvious choices. The third is an interesting option by the name of Lumentus, which is mentioned due to its potential role as a supplier of depth sensors for upcoming iPhone models.

Ximmerse Introduces Rhino X AR Headset with Snapdragon 835

The company that supplied some of the technology behind the Star Wars Jedi Challenges AR playset now has its own headset to offer.

Augmented reality hardware maker Ximmerse recently published a video introducing its Rhino X headset, teasing a variety of experiences ranging from tactical firearms training to product design to multiplayer gaming.

Keep reading to learn more about similarities and differences between Rhino X and Lenovo's Mirage headset and how it represents a tantalizing opportunity for AR developers...

REALITY BITES: Investment author Jon Markman is bullish on augmented reality as the killer app for the coming 5G revolution. While he views Google as ahead of Apple in augmented reality thanks to innovations like walking navigation in Google Maps and the Project Soli radar chip for gesture recognition, Markman views Apple and Niantic as the companies that will bring AR to the mainstream on the back of 5G networks.

Oculus Exec Introduces AR to the Masses via Joe Rogan Show

The worlds of augmented reality and virtual reality are closely linked in many ways, which means it's smart for AR insiders to keep a close on new developments in VR. And if you have been paying attention to both spaces, you know that Oculus CTO John Carmack is one of the most important thinkers in the VR space.

Well, the mainstream public got a rare display of some of that thinking, which included some strong opinions on AR, during a new interview this week on one of the most popular podcasts on the planet.

Read further to find out what Carmack had to say about AR, VR, and Magic Leap...

REALITY BITES: Another competitor has entered the augmented reality enterprise software race. Norfolk, Virginia-based Ario Technologies has closed a $2 million seed funding round to build out its new AR platform. Along with a $1.5 million grant from the US Air Force, the company has raised a total of $3.5 million.

Every Friday, Next Reality reviews the latest headlines from the financial side of augmented and mixed reality. This weekly Market Reality column covers funding announcements, mergers and acquisitions, market analysis, and the like. Check out previous editions of Market Reality for more news you may have missed.