Exactly. While you could argue whether or not "significant progress" has been made, I don't think you can argue that success in AR is going to require an invest

Exactly. While you could argue whether or not "significant progress" has been made, I don't think you can argue that success in AR is going to require an investment well beyond what any VC will be willing to cough up. Apple, with it huge stockpile of cash, can invest in long game instead of trying to satisfy an investor. What about Facebook and Google? They aren't hardware companies. As a content producer, I don't trust them to be a good technology partner for consumer products.