Philip Houska Virtual reality in conjunction with one of the most influential technology companies is a constantly discussed topic. There is practically nothing to be surprised about, as the competition has already dived into these waters and is gradually starting to expand its portfolios with this, according to many, groundbreaking technology. Apple is not yet officially involved in the field of virtual reality, but according to current information, the acquisition of companies specializing in VR and the hiring of Doug Bowman, a VR specialist, are not the only indicators that Apple is really up to something.
Daily Financial Times based on sources familiar with the situation, writes that Apple has assembled a secret team full of experts in virtual and augmented reality to create the first prototypes of virtual headsets. The team, which has in its ranks not only hundreds of employees from carefully selected acquisitions, but also in a certain way employees from Microsoft or the start-up Lytro, could compete with VR and AR products in the future with devices such as Rift from Oculus (owned by Facebook since 2014 ) and Microsoft's HoloLens (pictured below).
An interesting fact is that the Cupertino company has previously experimented with virtual reality. A small team led by Steve Jobs created various prototypes, which he even patented, but then they abandoned this idea due to certain immaturity of the technology.
After a certain time, the VR sphere began to manifest itself on a wider scale and, for example, the Rift from Oculus was created, which was bought by Facebook in March 2014 for two billion dollars (about 25 billion crowns). Other major tech players have also started developing products with the technology, and it was a surprise that Apple, which appears to have at least marginal experience with virtual reality, hasn't gotten into the game in any significant way.
However, in the meantime, this company did interesting acquisitions in the form of Israeli society PrimeSense focusing on 3D technologies, German companies Metaio, which specializes in virtual and augmented reality, the Faceshift app and the recent start-up Flyby, which allows augmented reality to "see" the world around using mobile devices, which Google also took advantage of and developed 3D technology under the code name "Tango" with the Flyby team.
The entry of the Californian giant into the VR/AR sphere can also be helped by Doug Bowman, whom you recently partnered with she hired, along with former Microsoft and Lytro employees.
For the first time, the executive director of Apple, Tim Cook, commented on the whole situation regarding this hot technology, who shared that virtual reality is an interesting field with interesting features. Otherwise, the situation does not change. Apple continues to decline to provide more details about virtual reality, as is its habit with all of its upcoming products.
However, all the information that has surfaced so far indicates that Cook's company is indeed planning something, but no one can be 100% sure when such a product will come to market. The newly formed VR/AR team just proves it. Apple is traditionally expected that their presented products will always be the top of the market, so there is a high chance that Apple's virtual reality will compete not only with the Rift headset, but also with HoloLens and other devices.
Apple is behind.