After years of shrugging it off, the iPhone giant is reportedly rounding up a team of VR all-stars.
Apple
By Eric Limer
Jan 29, 2016
While tech giants like Facebook, Valve, andSamsung have all been placing their various bets on the virtual reality future, Apple has mostly been standing to the side, patiently waiting and putting out ever-thinner Macbooks, iPads, and iPhones. But now, according to a report from Financial Times, the Cupertino company might be spinning up its virtual reality engine.
According to Financial Times, the top secret task force has hundreds of members, some of them poached from competitors working in a similar space, specifically a few from Microsoft (which has its Hololens) and Lytro (which recently announced an innovative virtual reality camera). The secret team has already been fooling with some prototypes, according to the report, but their end goal remains fluid. A final product could range from a simple headset that would compete with Gear VR, to something more sopheticated that could take on the Oculus Rift, or even augmented reality headsets like Hololens or the upcoming Magic Leap.
The news comes just shortly after an earnings call in which Apple prepared investors for the possibility that iPhone sales—which have been growing since the iPhone's initial release—might soon level off. A virtual reality headset (much like a car) would be a great new place to grow instead. During that call, CEO Tim Cook offered some light enthusiasm for virtual reality. "It is really cool and has some interesting applications," he said.
0 comments:
Post a Comment