Magic Leap Inc has quietly begun sending its mysterious augmented reality headsets into the wild. A small group of software developers recently received devices at their offices, according to people familiar with the matter. But access to the gadget comes with an usual caveat: They must commit to keeping them in locked safes.
The Plantation, Florida-based startup is anxious about losing control. Magic Leap has gone to great lengths to maintain a cloud of secrecy around the product. The spread of devices is a prelude to the company’s plans to begin shipping kits to a wider population of developers, something it has promised to do later this year.