What about developers?
I think Apple could take this further. After all, having built an effective core translation technology, the company could conceivably open access to the tech as an API for third-party developers. That could enable a multitude of new app experiences, though it’s important to note this is only my speculation.
It’s also nice to imagine a translation engine inside Xcode, enabling developers to swifty and easily create versions of their apps for multiple languages. I imagine Apple already understands how real-time translation could make for really astonishing experiences in spatial reality, enabling long distance, multi-lingual conference calls in Vision Pro devices. Think how this might transform news reporting.
Imagination is, of course the enemy of certainty, and right now there is no certainty about what Apple will introduce at next week’s developers event. But if it does bring translation to AirPods, it will effectively realize the Babel Fish vision of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy author Douglas Adams, the man who purchased the first Macintosh sold in Europe. That book, incidentally, was published just eight years before Apple imagined its Knowledge Navigator system, a product some say is about to be reborn as HomePad.
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