As with virtual reality, the best way to get people to understand augmented reality is to get them to actually try it. To that end, it looks like Magic Leap will be making a big push towards getting its kit into people’s hands in the future.
The Florida-based AR company is currently looking for a Director of Store Design to come and work at its headquarters. In the listing, the company explains that the successful individual will be in charge of “store design and fixturing”, suggesting Magic Leap is planning for a big retail push with its upcoming AR headset, Magic Leap One.
Rather than its very own stores, though, the listing suggests Magic Leap is set to focus on events, pop-up stores and taking up space inside existing stores for its retail presence. It’s not hard to picture demo kiosks as Best Buy just like the Oculus Rift launched with, for example, but we’d also expect to see stands in shopping malls and festivals as the company pushes the tech to the masses.
We likely won’t see the company’s plans for retail for some time; Magic Leap One is launching later this year but it could be that the early rollout for the device is mainly aimed at enthusiasts. We recently heard that the cheapest version of the headset may start at around $1,000, so it’s likely to be some time before the mainstream audience is ready to buy into the tech.
