Tuesday Apple Rumors: Apple Built Google Glass-Like Prototypes

by Christopher Freeburn | September 10, 2013 12:03 pm

[1]Here are your Apple rumors[2] and AAPL news items for today:

Tested: One item that definitely won’t be on display at Apple‘s (AAPL[3]) special media event today is a wearable visor[4]. Yet, a former Apple executive told Fast Company that the iPad-maker played around with a device that “was something like” Google‘s (GOOG[5]) wearable headset — Google Glass — some years ago. Tony Fadell, who helped develop the iPod, says his team was tasked with developing headgear that would have allowed users to feel like they were “sitting in a theater.” The project team created a variety of prototypes for the wearable visor, but it was ultimately ditched so Apple could move forward with other products. Fadell departed Apple in 2008. He says that the visor wasn’t fully developed because “we didn’t have the time.”

Preparation: Apple has decked out[6] the Town Hall building on its Cupertino, Calif., corporate campus with banners featuring colorful dots in advance of today’s special media event, AppleInsider notes. The banners were erected on Monday. Apple is widely expected to unveil two new iPhones — a flagship iPhone 5S and a lower-priced iPhone 5C — at today’s event. The iPhone 5S is rumored to retain the iPhone 5’s basic design and size, but feature a fingerprint scanner and upgraded internal components, including possibly an enhanced camera. The iPhone 5C will reportedly come in a variety of colors and retain the basic iPhone 5 internal infrastructure. Apple may drop the iPhone 5 from its lineup after the new iPhones officially launch. The new iPhones run on iOS 7, Jony Ive’s complete overhaul of the iOS interface. The new iPhones are expected to become available to consumers on or around September 20.

Launch: On Saturday, Apple opened the doors[7] of its new Stanford Shopping Mall Apple Store in California, Forbes notes. The event drew 400 Apple fans, company officials and designers. In typical modernist design, the new 6,825-square-foot store features 20-foot-tall glass panels around its front, with half the store concealed behind a giant wall. Architectural elements in the new store’s design are expected to be incorporated into upcoming retail outlets in France and Oregon. Previously, the mall had been home to a smaller Apple outlet, which had become dwarfed by a much larger Microsoft (MSFT[8]) retail store nearby.

For more about the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors[9] stories.

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2013/09/tuesday-apple-rumors-apple-built-google-glass-like-prototypes/

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