According to Macrumors, Apple just patented a virtual reality headset. While individual Apple patents are generally as predictive of future products as single stocktwits are of future market performance, Apple’s increasing focus on new computer interfaces may mean that we’re finally entering the era of immersive computing.
According to Ray Kurzweil, “By 2020, virtual reality will allow for a full-immersion sensual encounter involving all five senses.” Scary as it may sound, it’s coming closer to fruition day-by-day.
In fact, the last two years may be remembered as the birth of this new era. Nintendo’s Wii and Apple’s iPhone / new Macbooks are the first mainstream immersive computers. Before these two products, almost all of us interacted with PCs by using interfaces designed around the way the computers naturally work. The iPhone’s multitouch screen and the Wii’s motion controller are input devices designed around the way we work.
This is a logical step in the path toward an immersive experience. Forty years ago we interacted with computers using physical punch cards. Thirty years ago we began using keyboards and text commands. Twenty years ago we introduced the mouse. Now we have the MultiTouch and Motion Controllers.
Technology continues to evolve in order to make our lives easier and more efficient. The end result of this progression are computer interfaces that directly translate our thoughts into action. In fact, if you watched 60 Minutes a few weeks ago, you saw that we’re already starting to get there.
Of course, our input is only one piece of the immersive puzzle. Output from the computer will be equally important, and is trending in the same direction. Second Life and World of War Craft are crude representations of the appeal of virtual worlds. A lunch break to France, sitting beside Benjamin Franklin at the continental congress, or enjoying a romantic rendezvous with a celebrity, will all be possible in truly immersive virtual worlds.
All of this is still some ways away. Our best immersive technologies today are only in their infancy. But thanks to companies like Apple and Nintendo, they are beginning to make their way out of the lab and into our lives.
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