Apple will launch the AR head display in 2022.
Editor’s note: This article is from WeChat public number “qubit” (ID: QbitAI) author: dry out .
Magic Leap is still financing.
It was only half a year after it completed the last round of financing of 280 million US dollars (about 2 billion yuan).
Magic Leap confirmed the news to the media, and the E round of financing being raised has already completed most of it.
But until now, there is no news that new investors are participating in a new round of investment.
The only sign is JPMorgan Chase, which is also eyeing its patents.
Before this, Magic Leap has already consolidated $2.6 billion, or about $18 billion. (more than the market value of Sogou)
“The annual cost of burning 600-800 million US dollars, the money has been spent”
The reason why JP Morgan Chase is interested is based on a document from the US Patent and Trademark Office.
It shows that Magic Leap basically mortgaged all the patents to JP Morgan Chase in August this year.
The intention behind it is also obvious, that is, want money. For companies that rely on capital development, it is also normal for mortgage patents to be financed.
For example, companies such as Storm, LeTV, and Hammer, when the company was in critical condition, the founders mortgaged the equity in exchange for funds.
But the really important thing is that this money can’t support the company to tide over the storm.
In the opinion of Karl Guttag, who has been tracking the AR industry for more than 40 years, it is estimated to be embarrassing.
In the past two days, he combined his own interactions with insiders in many industries to calculate a bill for Magic Leap:
It is estimated that Magic Leap now has more than 1,800 employees and 19 locations.
According to the usual standards of the technology industry, the annual salary, benefits, and office facilities/equipment costs of employees are usually $250,000.
Advanced R&D staff costs will be higher, and even if some employees are not paid well, the equipment they use will be expensive.
Moreover, Magic Leap has invested a lot of resources in sales management fees.
These projects add up to between $600 million and $800 million a year, or about $4.1 billion to $5.6 billion.
Although burning more money, Magic Leap products are not shipped high (mistakes).
Karl Guttag said there is no detailed estimate of the shipment of Magic Leap products on the market, and most of the valid guesses are between 5000-8000 units.
According to the industry law, after the product launch for more than one year, it is difficult to continue to increase sales.
What does this mean? Pricing is $2,295 and revenue is around $18 million.
Equivalent to an investment of more than $300,000 per product. It is basically impossible to get profits from it.
According to such input and output, the speed of burning money, 280 million US dollars can support half a year is already good.
And Karl Guttag quoted several industry insiders as saying that Magic Leap has already spent $2.4 billion on the previous one.
Finally, he also gave a conclusion: Magic Leap mortgaged the patent to JPMorgan Chase, and the estimated funding would not exceed $1 billion.
If it can’t get money from other investors, it’s time for the company to start taking action and start mass layoffs.
This is not the past, there is no product that can melt tens of billions
Just a few years ago, Magic Leap was also the same as “Boston Power.”
There is also a multi-session demo video showing the powerful naked-eye 3D holographic effects.
For example, this screen is estimated to have been seen by many people:
A bunch of people sat in the gym, seeing a whale jump from the floor, and then photographed it at the other end. During the period, the waves surged and the whole stadium seemed to transform into the ocean.
A lot of people are shocked by this “magic” general scene. At the same time, there is also a display of work + play games.
A lot of people can’t figure out what kind of technology can achieve this effect. At the same time, there are also many doubts.
With Google, Alibaba and other technology companies giving a huge investment of 1.4 billion US dollars, the public’s doubts have also been eliminated.
But whoever thought, these videos really can’t stand the doubt. Whether it’s a whale jumping out of the water or a thrilling shooting game, it doesn’t exist, it’s a composite video created by the film special effects company Weta Workshop.
The falsification is a real hammer, and Magic Leap is also known as “American Music”.
But this storm did not knock Magic Leap down.
Although the original naked eye 3D holographic effects and optical fiber scanning light field display products could not be produced, they also produced another product last year: Magic Leap One, an AR glasses.
After the product appeared, there was also media satisfaction with the experience of Magic Leap.
But after more media evaluations, it is believed that this company is suspected of false propaganda, and the products that come out are simply not comparable to the Haikou that was originally boasted.
The most intense comment from the famous American media MotherBoard:
Magic Leap’s products don’t have Magic, “we can definitively say that Magic Leap was full of shit”.
Obviously, Magic Leap One is not a blast, and Magic Leap is getting into trouble.
There is not much time left for Magic Leap
After confirming that the company is raising a new round of financing, a spokesman for Magic Leap also revealed the company’s plan:
It has been expanding internationally, and it has already started selling in the US and Asia, and there will be more areas to follow up soon.
At the same time, second-generation devices and Magicverse are being developed and are driving the content and developer ecosystem.
Although Magic Leap has its own rhythm, AR is called the next computing platform, and the giant is ready to enter, and will not be merciless.
Just recently, Microsoft Hololens 2 shipped, which is the number one enemy of Magic Leap One.
After many years in the field of Apple’s AR, there have been further news: AR head-up will be launched in 2022 and AR glasses will be launched in 2023.
In September of this year, Magic Leap’s former rival Daqri, although it had been established for 10 years and raised more than $275 million, was closed down – the headquarters was closed, employees were demobilized, and assets were sold.
At the beginning of this year, old AR companies such as ODG and Meta were also in trouble.
And Magic Leap, even if it can get $1 billion this time, according to the current rate of burning money, it can only support another year and a half.
When there is no improvement, what else can it be mortgaged?
The cover image is from pexels