Market Reality: Vuzix & Meta Represent the Brightest AR Present at CES, While Google, Facebook & Huawei Grow AR's Future

It would be difficult to discuss the business of augmented reality without acknowledging the annual tech meat market of CES.

The biggest stories of CES came courtesy of Vuzix, which debuted its consumer-centric Blade smartglasses, and Meta Company, which struck a deal with Dell to sell its headsets.

Outside of CES, Google, Facebook, and Huawei joined forces, so to speak, to nurture the industry through higher education.

Vuzix Steals the Show at CES with Blade

On Friday, as the CES tech conference in Las Vegas wrapped up, Vuzix posted a demonstration video of its Vuzix Blade smartglasses operating with Amazon's voice assistant Alexa... Not long after dropping the first video, Vuzix followed up with a second video (see below), showing off how Alexa responds to voice commands while the user is wearing the Blade device.

Take a look and listen to exactly how Vuzix's pairing with Amazon Alexa works here...

REALITY BITES: CES 2018 was the biggest year for augmented reality in terms of net square feet allocated for expo space. The VR/AR Association reports via Twitter that the Augmented Reality Marketplace at CES grew by 10% in 2018 compared to last year.

Dell to Offer Augmented Reality Headsets from Meta

Using the CES tech conference in Las Vegas as the launch pad, Dell has announced that it's partnering with Meta Company to offer its augmented reality headsets to business customers.

The deal makes Dell the first PC manufacturer to offer an AR headset from Meta. While Dell did not disclose which headset that would be, the Meta currently offers the Meta 2 as a development kit.

Why does a partnership between Dell and Meta make sense? Read on to decipher the virtual tea leaves along with us...

REALITY BITES: Time, Inc. has begun integrating AR into its print publications, and it makes perfect sense to us. Delving into the reasoning for this new AR push, Adweek talked to the publisher for insight into why Time, Inc. has adopted this new tech strategy.

Google, Facebook & Huawei Put Money Behind AR & VR via Univ. Of Washington Lab

Google, Facebook, and Huawei have made an investment in nurturing the future of augmented and virtual reality through $6 million in contributions to the opening of a new center at the University of Washington.

The UW Reality Lab at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering on the Seattle campus will educate and develop future generations of AR and VR talent in the hopes of producing innovations and fostering research in the growing field. With the funding, the UW Reality Lab will also be able to create new AR and VR courses and provide access to bleeding-edge technology provided by the sponsoring companies.

Read on to find out what the benefactors might be getting out of this generous cash infusion...

REALITY BITES: While CES is the first conference of the year for the tech industry, the National Retail Federation's Big Show, taking place Jan. 14-16 in New York, is the linchpin for the retail industry's trade show circuit. Augmented reality figures to have a larger presence there as well, with an emerging technologies showcase and a presentation on how AR and VR will change the shopping experience.

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.