If you poke around a bit, you’ll see that there is an existing AR market out there, used primarily for business purposes.
It is held back by older technology, but more importantly, by older distribution mechanisms: proprietary hardware and proprietary development platforms, with only custom deployment at high cost and high risk.
Two interesting devices in the market today are the Epson Moverio and ODG R-7 glasses:
Discover the Epson Moverio Smart Eyewear product family, including the new Epson Moverio BT-300.www.epson.com
We are excited to make this groundbreaking device available to our customers with a Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 805 processor…www.osterhoutgroup.com
The ODG glasses are what Microsoft licensed (plus patents) as the basis for HoloLens. They are stuck on Android 4.4, not exactly something that is current from a developer platform perspective.
As far as I know, the Moverio is also on this old version of Android.
So to your point, a lot of these platforms — both current and older — have the same issue: they need to focus on developer experience and developer adoption to make the apps, content, and experiences that will attract more businesses.
Consumer AR? Yes, it’s definitely somewhere around 5 years off — or around the amount of time it will take to build sunglass sized / shaped smart glasses.
Business AR? The Meta & HoloLens demos are ushering in the next wave, today. Given the price points and shipping projections, it’s a year to a year and a half behind where VR is, which is just starting to ship this year.
Stay tuned!