Magic Leap 2 will go on sale in the US on September 30th

Magic Leap 2 finally has a concrete date for its commercial availability. The business-focused headset first made its way to a limited number of users last year as part of the company’s early adopter program. Starting on September 30th, though, anybody who wants to get the headset in the US can buy one. Magic Leap 2 will be available in three editions, the cheapest of which is the Base headset meant for professionals and developers who just want access to the augmented reality platform. The edition can be used for full commercial deployments and production environments and will cost $3,299 with a one-year warranty.

Developers working on AR apps and need the headset for internal testing will probably have to purchase the Magic Leap 2 Developer Pro edition. It comes with “access to developer tools, sample projects, enterprise-grade features, and monthly early releases for development and test purposes.” That said, the company will not give its buyers permission to use them for full commercial deployments and in production environments. The Developer Pro’s prices start at $4,099.

Finally, Magic Leap 2 Enterprise is for customers looking for a headset with robust enterprise features and who intend to use them for large-scale deployments. This option will cost buyers at least $4,999 and will come with a two-year access to enterprise features, as well as quarterly software releases. Unlike the other two options, the Enterprise edition is bundled with two years of warranty. 

Due to the fact that the headsets are meant for enterprise use and have prices that go beyond double the first Magic Leap’s retail price, the company is likely not expecting massive sales numbers. Especially since Magic Leap reportedly only sold 6,000 units of the first model within the first six months that it became available. The Information reported back then that company founder Rony Abovitz told investors he was expecting to sell 1 million units in the first year, before deciding that 100,000 was a more realistic number. Because of the Magic Leap One Creator Edition’s poor sales and the pandemic, the company ended up laying off half its workforce in 2020.

Magic Leap 2 will also be available in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on September 30th, with Japan and Singapore to follow before the year ends. In the US, the devices will be sold through the company’s retail partner, Insight. 

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BMW will charge $18 per month for heated seats in select regions

Now even connected cars are embracing the subscription model. BMW drivers in a few countries will have to pay $18 per month for heated seats, reportedThe Verge. Front-seat heating is one of many optional add-on software upgrades available in BMW’s ConnectedDrive stores in the United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea, New Zealand and South Africa. Also available for an extra monthly charge is automatic high beams (roughly $12) and steering wheel heating (roughly $12).

BMW drivers in these countries won’t have to take their cars to a service shop to get the features installed. The hardware is already there — drivers will merely have to pay an extra fee to activate them through an over-the-air software upgrade on BMW’s ConnectedDrive platform. That’s also where they can pay for other features locked behind an annual subscription, including safety camera alerts ($30) and access to an online music library ($213 a year).

BMW hasn’t announced plans to add heated seats to its ConnectedDrive store in the United States, but microtransactions aren’t completely foreign to BMW drivers in the country. The company previously faced backlash after charging an annual fee of $80 for Apple CarPlay, which it ultimately stopped doing. Still, the pay-per-feature model is alive and well in the US, where BMW drivers have to pay extra for a number of software upgrades, including $50 per year to access ConnectedDrive and $200 per year (after the third year) to update their car’s navigation maps.

Apple and Jony Ive are parting ways

Apple and Jony Ive are breaking up — and this time, according to The New York Times, it’s for real. Ive left the tech giant in 2019 after over two decades and formed his own company called LoveFrom, which counted Apple as its first and primary client. The publication said that both parties agreed not to extend their contract in the weeks leading up to its renewal and to stop working together for the first time since the 90’s. 

Ive was a close collaborator of Steve Jobs and is credited with designing the translucent, candy-colored plastic cases older Mac computers were known for. He also helped design the iPod, its white earbuds, the iPhone, the iPad, as well as the Apple Watch. Ive even reportedly contributed ideas to Apple’s upcoming mixed reality headset. In 2015, he was named Apple’s first Chief Design Officer, though his role shifted again over the years. The reports that came out after Ive left Apple claimed that he felt “dispirited” by Tim Cook’s lack of interest in design and the CEO’s decision to focus on selling software and services. Cook called those reports “absurd.”

The Times said LoveFrom’s multi-year contract with Apple was worth $100 million and prohibited the firm from taking on any project that the tech giant considered to be in competition with its products. Ive reportedly wanted the freedom to take on new clients without needing to ask permission from Apple. Meanwhile, the company’s executives had apparently been questioning the amount Apple was paying him and had grown frustrated over employees quitting to join his design firm instead.

Back when Ive left Apple and LoveFrom signed a deal with the company, Cook said that he looked “forward to working with Jony long into the future.” Whether that means there’s a possibility of them working together again remains to be seen. Unless, of course, one or both parties are taking a leaf from the great Taylor Swift’s book and swearing that they are never, ever getting back together.