Microsoft's HoloLens evolves in shadows as Apple's ARKit makes leaps in limelight

[Windows Central]

Augmented reality (AR) has been embraced as the next step in personal computing's evolution. Leading tech companies are approaching this industry with vastly different strategies, however.
Augmented reality is the process where elements of the digital world are overlaid onto the physical world in a user's field of view. This digital content can range from complex objects like a digital representation of a real person (telepresence) to simple text that provides more information about a physical object to which that text is "attached."

Apple and Microsoft are just two companies (among others like Google, ODG and Magic Leap) that are attempting to establish a foothold in this nascent industry. Each of these companies CEOs, Microsoft's Satya Nadella and Apple's Tim Cook, see AR as the future of computing but are approaching its implementation from different angles.

Microsoft, like Magic Leap and ODG, is approaching from a position that represents where the tech is ultimately headed, a wearable AR headset that facilitates hands-free interaction with AR content in real space. It is complementing the hardware with a comprehensive software platform, Windows Mixed Reality, as part of Microsoft's Universal Windows Platform (UWP). Apple, like Google's ARCore approach, is leveraging iOS via ARKit to bring AR experiences to millions of consumers and developers through the 2D displays of their iPhones and iPads.

Full story from the WindowsCentral blog...