Apple is acquiring SPACES, a virtual reality firm that originally focused on creating theme park attractions then pivoted to delivering video conferencing software to VR headsets.
Apple confirmed the acquisition to Axios with the statement it usually offers in such cases. “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”
The company had raised substantial funding around the premise of creating destination virtual reality experiences that could go in theme parks or shopping malls.
With the pandemic putting that business in limbo, Spaces shifted its energy and created software that uses VR headsets to allow people to have more immersive experiences with Zoom and other video conferencing services.
MacDailyNews Take: In a recent blog post, Digital River wrote of SPACES’ “Pandemic Pivot.”
While some companies are working hard to keep up with new demands, others saw their demand come full stop. SPACES is a company that provides cutting-edge VR experiences for theme parks and malls around the world. With those types of gathering places closed, SPACES executives found themselves on endless video conferencing calls, discussing their next steps. That experience inspired them to take their VR expertise and apply it to an application for video conferencing. Lacking the time or bandwidth to stand up an ecommerce store, SPACES turned to Digital River and its MyCommerce solution to begin selling subscriptions to its pro version of the app within days.
“It’s been extremely exciting to see the initial interest we’ve received in the app and the different ways it’s being used for business meetings, live events, classroom teaching and everyday entertainment,” said SPACES CTO and co-founder, Brad Herman. “The team at Digital River has jumped all in to help us accelerate the curve of user adoption and quickly grow the business.”
Here are some videos from SPACES:
Don’t be gaslighted; The videos clearly demonstrate anti-human chaos.
As far as Apple is concerned this app was a demo to support a talent acquisition. They need AR/VR teams like crazy, and there’s almost certainly no direct path from this demo to a polished Apple AR/VR product.
Watched the first video above and now I want to puke. The second and third ones with the fixed camera work well though.
Clearly this will be part of our future in some form. The allure of putting on glasses and then being anywhere with anyone is strong.