In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said he expects FaceTime in Apple’s rumored augmented reality/virtual reality headset (“Apple Glasses,” perhaps) will revolve around Memojis and SharePlay.
Animojis allow a user to choose an avatar (e.g., a puppet) to represent themselves. The Animoji can move and talk as if it were a video of the user. Animojis enable users to create personalized versions of emojis in a fun and creative way, and Memoji is the name used for iOS’s personalized “Animoji” characters that can be created and customized right within Messages by choosing from a set of inclusive and diverse characteristics to form a unique personality.
With SharePlay in the FaceTime app, you can bring movies, TV shows, and music into your FaceTime calls. It allows you to facilitate a real-time connection with others on the call—with synced playback and shared controls, you see and hear the same moments at the same time. You can also share your screen to show apps, webpages, and more during the conversation.
Here’s Gurman’s take: I imagine a virtual reality version of FaceTime where you can be in a conference room with dozens of people. Instead of seeing their actual faces, you’ll see 3D versions of them (Memojis). I assume the headset will be able to determine a person’s facial expressions in real time, making the experience fairly lifelike. I would also look for heavy use of SharePlay in the new realityOS, allowing multiple headset wearers to experience music, movies and games together.
About ‘Apple Glasses’
When it comes to Apple Glasses, such a device will arrive in late 2022 or 2023, depending on which rumor you believe. It will be a head-mounted display. Or may have a design like “normal” glasses. Or it may be eventually be available in both. The Apple Glasses may or may not have to be tethered to an iPhone to work. Other rumors say that Apple Glasses could have a custom-build Apple chip and a dedicated operating system dubbed “rOS” for “reality operating system.”
