Apple’s biggest announcement Tuesday wasn’t the iPhone. It was a new translation feature included with its latest AirPods Pro earbuds. According to the demo, the AirPods will translate the words of a person in real time. If two people have them in, they can translate each other simultaneously.
It’s an obvious idea that Apple and other companies have been working on for a while, with some that have already gone to market. It’s also another potential “lock-in” for Apple. The sheer size of its install base and the popularity of AirPods means it could instantly become the most ubiquitous translation tool in the world.
What’s needed is an open standard, so that two people don’t have to be using Apple devices, or products from any one manufacturer. It’s not too late. The first generation of this technology isn’t going to be perfect. It will be glitchy and take time to catch on.
If there isn’t an open standard that forces Apple to allow interoperability, it will diminish the power of the concept. What’s the point of unlocking universal communication if our devices can’t even talk to one another?