“On May 28th 2015, Apple acquired Metaio, an augmented reality startup that launched as an offshoot of a project at Volkswagen,” Ophir Gottlieb writes for Capital Market Laboratories. “When asked what Apple was doing, the company gave the standard answer: ‘Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.'”
“Then, in November we got news that Apple acquired Faceshift; the company that created motion capture technology used in the latest Star Wars film,” Gottlieb writes. “This company’s technology creates animated avatars and other figures that capture a person’s facial expressions in real time.”
“But, the news we just learned tops all of the small acquisitions and rumors. Apple has hired Doug Bowman, Ph.D. – a professor at Virginia Tech considered to be one of the world’s top virtual reality researchers,” Gottlieb writes. “VR has been called the technology whose consumer base looks increasingly like of all of humanity… Goldman Sachs estimates the virtual reality segment will be an $80 billion market within a decade and that doesn’t include the ‘augmented reality’ segment… While Wall Street would have you dig a grave for Apple, just one layer beneath the headlines and we’ll see the real secret: The company has increased its expenditures in research and development by 90% in the last two-years.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The next big thing or the next big fad?
If Apple does enter the market, perhaps it’s the former.
SEE ALSO:
Apple hires leading virtual reality researcher – January 22, 2016
Apple is building a virtual reality supply chain with disruptive potential, new research shows – November 19, 2015
Analyst: Apple team exploring virtual reality/augmented reality – August 31, 2015
Apple exploring a new reality with purchase of Metaio – June 3, 2015
Apple patents perforated augmented reality display that you can see and hear through – May 29, 2015
Apple acquires augmented reality company Metaio – May 28, 2015
New Apple haptics patent application reveals diamond-layered trackpad that simulates wood, other textures – April 23, 2015
Apple granted U.S. patent for hybrid VR head-mounted display – February 18, 2015
Apple is working on VR user interfaces and gaming; looking for Oculus and Leap experts – February 10, 2015
Apple granted patent for display-based speakers for iOS devices – January 13, 2015
Apple granted a patent for devices with a transparent display – November 18, 2014
Apple’s new iPhones, iPads could feature haptic displays – June 30, 2014
Apple patent application reveals personal display headset invention – May 8, 2014
Apple patent application reveals wildly intelligent multi-tiered haptics system – May 3, 2012
Apple continues to tweak Apple TV video headset accessory – April 10, 2014
Apple patent application reveals sapphire flexible transparent display devices created with Liquidmetal – December 19, 2013
Apple granted knockout patent for head-mounted personal display – December 10, 2013
iGlasses: Apple granted patent for head-mounted augmented reality displays – July 5, 2012
Apple files patent application for haptic feedback touch-based user interface – March 22, 2012
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “eldernorm” for the heads up.]
Virtual reality will certainly not be a fad when it works well. The only question is when, not if. And to some people it will become the strongest addiction yet made.
This is great! Instead of learning to deal with the real world, people will retreat even further into fantasy worlds made possible by technological “innovation”.
For many kids thats already the preferred medium to socialize …
I think this might have more to do with the car project… augmented reality projected onto the windshield. The system scans your face to determine the required placement of graphics to make it line up properly with what’s outside.
Like a lot of things Apple does, this thing will not be intrusive, it will be like a natural reflex/human extension.
Like touch ID, 3D touch, the watch and so on. In a natural path toward modern human interactivities.
Agreed.
VR may be big, but AR is, in my opinion, more likely the direction Apple will focus on. As just one example, the tech is already available to “scan” a plate of food, identify the contents, calculate the nutritional values, and advise you regarding how this plate fits in your with your nutritional needs. Imagine this capability built into your iPhone 3-5 years down the road to get an idea of how AR may fit into your life.
I’ll take the blonde virtual hottie when she gets released….I hope she looks like Blake Lively.
Everything is a pipe dream until Apple enters the market and shows how it should be done.
I say that any market Apple gets into will automatically be considered by Wall Street a low-growth market for Apple. That’s what usually happens.
VR is a tool, for developers. For consumers it’s a fad. Why? Because it’s not all that fun and it makes you disoriented.
It’s a different splash of the 3D kind.
I will wait for Apple’s product, because if they do come out with one, they would have figured out what would make it a decent experience. If they don’t come out with one, we will all know it’s was nothing after all.
I’m expecting the new Apple Holodeck. Nothing else will do.
Extending that thought, watch for Apple to get into nanotechnology, which would be required to instantly create a holodeck environment.
Excellent related book:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Age
Time to re-read Prey by Michael Crichton.
Grey Goo. The ultimate human creation.
I’ll toss it onto my reading list. I wish Michael Crichton was still around. I was an early fanatic of his work but lost track of him at the point of ‘The Great Train Robbery’.
Michael Crichton’s plot formula: If something can go wrong, it will go wrong. Especially when science is subverted for corporate gain or social control, but also when well-meaning, self-appointed saviours of humankind operate unchecked. See Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
I used Google cardboard the other day. Blew my mind. I would prefer a meeting like that, over Adobe connect or face time any day. The applications for communication and entertainment are virtually limitless.
Augmented Reality has huge potential for everyday applications + gaming.