Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. HOMEPAGE

Google-backed Magic Leap is asking people to make apps for its holographic computer when barely anyone has seen it

Magic Leap, the secretive company backed by Google to the tune of $542 million, is letting the light in just a little bit with the launch of a developer platform that will let folks build apps on top of its mysterious product, TechCrunch reports.

Magic Leap is a wearable device that lets you project holograms into the environment that you can interact with.

Magic Leap AR preview
Magic Leap

It sounds to Microsoft's HoloLens, which the company's been demonstrating to the press. But all Magic Leap has shown off publicly is a very cool video made with famed special effects lab Weta Workshop that may or may not accurately represent the final product. 

Still, with that big Google investment, Magic Leap could be another front in the company's war to conquer virtual reality

Developers won't have too hard a time getting started making apps for Magic Leap: The company is supporting the Unreal and Unity engines, both of which are very common tools for virtual reality and video game software development.

The weird part is that developers can start to build apps well before they've actually seen the Magic Leap hardware. 

“We’re out of the R&D phase and into the transition to real product introduction," CEO Rony Abovitz said on stage at MIT’s EmTech Digital conference, alongside Magic Leap Chief Futurist and famed novelist Neal Stephenson.

As part of the push towards actually getting Magic Leap on the market, the company also announced it's opening 300,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Florida to make more of the “photonic lightfield chip” it needs for what it promises to be a unique technology.

Insider Inc.'s parent company, Axel Springer, is an investor in Magic Leap.

On February 28, Axel Springer, Business Insider's parent company, joined 31 other media groups and filed a $2.3 billion suit against Google in Dutch court, alleging losses suffered due to the company's advertising practices.

Google

Jump to

  1. Main content
  2. Search
  3. Account