AR/VR pioneer and Hololens co-inventor Avi Bar-Zeev has left Apple

“AR/VR pioneer and Hololens co-inventor Avi Bar-Zeev left Apple last month, Variety has learned,” Janko Roettgers reports for Variety. “Bar-Zeev had been working on Apple’s augmented reality headset, which the company has been developing in secret for a possible 2020 launch.”
“Bar-Zeev confirmed his departure when contacted by Variety, saying: ‘I left my full-time position at Apple in January. I had the best exit one can imagine. I have only nice things to say about Apple and won’t comment on any specific product plans,'” Roettgers reports. “He added that he planned to consult in the AR space while ‘noodling’ on the next big thing.”
“Bar-Zeev has been working in the AR/VR space for close to three decades. Back in the ’90s, he was part of a team at Disney that worked on some early VR experiences for the company’s theme parks, including ‘Aladdin’s Magic Carpet’ VR ride,” Roettgers reports. “He then went on to co-found Keyhole, the company that later got acquired by Google to become the foundation of Google Maps. After a brief stint at Linden Lab, Bar-Zeev worked for four years at Microsoft. ‘He helped found and invent Hololens at Microsoft, assembling the very first AR prototypes, demos and UX concepts, sufficient to convince his leadership,’ according to his LinkedIn bio.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Some people like the excitement of germinating ideas, nurturing them, and letting them get a foothold. Once it gets past that point, it gets boring for them; longterm tending is not their thing. Bar-Zeev strikes us as someone who’s always looking for a new challenge. Perhaps Bar-Zeev’s departure means that Apple Glasses are now at the post where they’re past the exciting invention stage and have progressed into the refinement stage?
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