Since 2014, Magic Leap managed to raise approximately 1.4 billion dollars for its augmented reality smartglasses.
But, the company also managed to run into considerable negative publicity these days. Moreover, on the Internet there is wandering around a leaked photo that shows that the technology might be further behind than what its CEO has claimed.
So, this means that the Magic Leap Company is between two huge scandals that are starting to pop out. This scandal started in December when tech news site The Information claimed that the company’s executives overstated the quality of their AR device.
Moreover, the tech news site also said that the prototype is inferior to those from rivals like Microsoft and its HoloLens project.
To be added that last week, Business Insider, another tech news site published a leaked photo that showed the technology could be very bulky.
| Credits: www.businessinsider.com |
Rony Aboviz, the CEO of Magic Leap in Florida, declared in a Twitter post that the photo was “not what you think it is.”
However, many researches have been made about this leaked photo, and at least one high-level source has worried about the Magic Leap project.
We must say that this company has approximately 1.100 employees, and the risk is that some of these individuals might leave if they find out that there are other interests besides the company’s main goals.
They are scattered so thin,” one source claimed according to Venturbeat.
They are doing 1,000 things badly. They should be doing three or four things really well. Magic Leap is not as good as HoloLens, and it’s two years later. It won’t be as good when it ships.”
Moreover, last week, a new lawsuit hit Magic Leap. This new lawsuit alleged that the company promoted a sexist work environment.
Moreover, the lawsuit says that Magic Leap used misleading marketing materials that inaccurately depicted the product’s capabilities. Magic Leap’s former vice president of strategic marketing and brand identify, Tannen Campbell, filed the suit in a federal court in the Sothern District of Florida.
It seems that she was fired because Rony Abovitz, Magic Leap’s CEO, refused to acknowledge the misogyny within the company and address a hostile work environment.
It seems that Magic Leap is accused of violating the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of race, national origin, sex, color and religion.
As we know, Magic Leap has been founded in 2010 and it is currently developing an augmented reality headset that superimposes virtual objects onto the real world. In the last couple of years, there was information that investors poured money into the company after seeing amazing demonstrations of early prototypes.
However, it seems that after these accusations, the actual first commercial product will unlikely have those same capabilities.
Tannen Campbell declared that she managed to bring up concerns that the company is showing off marketing material that didn’t accurately reflect what Magic Leap’s technology could actually do. Unfortunately, she declared that the warnings were ignored in favor of her male colleagues.
