Avi Bar-Zeev (RealityPrime) on Prototyping the Future at Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, and Beyond (Part 1)

The Guest

Avi Bar-Zeev has been a pioneer, architect and advisor in spatial computing for nearly 30 years, both behind the scenes at the world’s largest tech companies, and in the industry at large. 

In early 2010, he helped found and invent the HoloLens at Microsoft, developing the first prototypes, demos, patents, plans and UX concepts. At Bing, he built the first prototypes for developer-facing aspects of AR, which we now call the "AR cloud." At Amazon, he helped launch PrimeAir and worked on the Echo Frame glasses.

More recently he helped Apple advance its own “undisclosed” projects.

avi bar-zeev.jpeg

The Conversation

In this, the first of two parts of our conversation, Avi shares stories from his early career, including the work he did in the 1990s for Disney on "Aladdin's Magic Carpet" VR Ride. 

We talk about the origins of the Hololens, his work at Amazon, and a bit about what he did at Apple. He notes across all of the big companies and small startups he advises, he helps them peer deeply into the future. He does this by prototyping the experiences that convince people of what the right path is by conveying the correct emotional reaction and deciding whether we'll love it or hate it.

He goes on to share his perspective on the major players, and talks about some of the risks he sees for the technology.

Jason McDowallconsumer, AR Cloud, VR, hardware, AR smartglasses