Avegant's Glyph, Which Beams Movies Onto Viewers' Retinas, Won't Arrive Until Early 2016

Avegant, a startup whose technology literally beams video content onto your retinas, says it needs a little more time to ship its eye-popping technology.

The Glyph headset, the first product from the company, is now set to start shipping to Kickstarter backers in January, with broader availability in the first quarter of next year, according to CEO Joerg Tewes. It’s the latest in several delays for the product, which quickly raised $1.5 million on Kickstarter when it was announced in early 2014.

Avegant

Avegant is also announcing on Tuesday that it has hired veteran technology executive Richard Kerris as its new chief marketing officer. Kerris, who had been on the company’s board, has worked for a number of big technology companies, including Nokia, Hewlett-Packard and Apple.

The Glyph looks like a pair of fancy headphones — and acts as one, too. But its key use is when you flip the unit 90 degrees. At that point it becomes a personal movie theater, passing along video from any HDMI-enabled source, including phones and tablets. The Glyph uses millions of micro-mirrors to project the image directly onto the wearer’s retinas.

Movies or TV shows appear in the center of one’s field of view, with peripheral vision maintained. Avegant says that allows someone to watch a movie on a plane while still noticing when a flight attendant is coming down the aisle with food or drinks. The company is taking preorders for $599 on its website, with the Glyph set to sell for $699 when it becomes commercially available next year.

Though capable of displaying 3-D content or even interactive, 360-degree images, the Glyph is being positioned for frequent travelers who want to watch today’s movies and TV as opposed to the virtual reality content that is still around the corner and requires a setting that allows for full immersion in the display.

Avegant originally planned to ship at the end of 2014, but pushed back its launch time frame several times, in part to refine the product’s design. Like many crowdfunded hardware startups, Avegant has found bringing its products to market harder than it anticipated.

The Glyph’s final design is lighter than was first planned, but also lacks a few of the originally promised features, including noise cancellation and a built-in microphone.

Avegant has continued raising money in the meantime, landing a $9.3 million round led by Intel Capital in November 2014 and a $24 million Series B round this past August.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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