I remember that during the first wave of internet we tried to replicated the physical world but inside the browser. So buying cloths online was supposed to be like being in the store, which at that time was just impossible. It wasn’t until the second internet wave (after the crash of the first bubble) that we realized that internet won’t be or supposed to be like the real world. Actually it was able to be better but in a different way.
During this second wave was where companies like Amazon came to make a revolution in the way we shop, creating a completely new purchasing experience. Banks moved to a completely online experience (at the point that some banks has not branches at all) that was not like being in the branch, but better, way better.
Two weeks ago I went to a presentation where Rio Caraeff (Chief Content Officer at Magic Leap) talked about his interesting life and professional story, closing with a brief explanation about Magic Leap’s vision. As a dinosaur in this industry I also know how to control my excitement when something new comes along. Basically because I was one of those that in the 80’s thought that just with a computer an free time for programming you could move a satellite, something that never happened. Also I was exited about AI until I had to deal with it. I’m still exited with it but in a more realistic way. So at this stage in my life I just try to contain my excitement with new technologies.
As a South Florida resident, I started listening stories about the Plantation based company Magic Leap some time ago. I was going from excitement about what they where saying they wanted to build, to skepticism when Rony Abovitz was defending his company on twitter when a completely stranger made a negative opinion about it. It was just weird, if this guy is doing what he says is doing, why he even care what what a twitter troll say? Never had that answer but after talking with Rio I was able to really got what the company’s vision is.
I know that there’s a world of difference between having a jellyfish floating around your bedroom (which is basically what they are doing today and even when it’s quite shocking, it’s useless and will take your attention for no more than what, 10 minutes?) and being able to have a virtual meeting with your business partners in the same room, seating around the very same table, or walking around your favorite store trying your favorite t-shirts in the confort of your bedroom.
In any case, it really doesn’t matter how far they got today, what it matters is they are decided to make that happen, and that’s a great news. They are so decided that they convinced companies like Ali Baba, AT&T and Google, among many others, to invest 1.4 BILLION dollars. During the last month they launched their Magic Leap One for developers (creators edition) which is an amazing idea. They are making people generate “content” or “experiences” which will definitely generate a massive penetration in the market (and as you can see in the following video, they will get loans for you at 0 interest). If that happen, Magic Leap (and its future competitors) will be part of our life, a life that now we will be able to measure.
Can you imagine the Analytics possibilities under this kind of technologies? A/B testing, UX Analytics, conversion optimization, clustering, etc, etc, etc. How can any Analytics person not be amazed by the endless capabilities that this kind of technology present us?
I can imagine telling my grand children about tags, data sources integration, cookie portability and all the stupid things that are preventing us today taking real advantage of data.
What’s the role of the (almost impossible to accomplish) GDPR law in a world with such amazing measuring possibilities? Maybe we have to seek the answer in blockchain, but that’s for another post.
If you still don’t believe that this goes for real, take a look at the Keynote Recap from the very recent first Magic Leap Conference. Good things to come…