Companies like Google, Sony, Valve, HTC, Facebook, Samsung, and Microsoft have openly expressed their interest in virtual and augmented reality technology. Apple on the other hand has appeared to be pretty quiet on that front, but we suppose it isn’t reasonable to expect Apple to jump on board every major tech trend, right?
However it seems that while these companies are proudly showing off their technology, Apple could be quietly working behind the scenes on something of their own, thanks to a recent hire of professor Doug Bowman, according to a report from the Financial Times (paywall; via Engadget).
Bowman is a computer science professor at Virginia Tech and is said to be one of the nation’s leading experts on both virtual and augmented reality technology, with his specialty being creating 3D user interfaces. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of or seen Apple express interest in such technology.
Prior to this, there were job listings hinting at such interest, not to mention Apple’s acquisition of augmented reality technology company Metaio last year, along with the hiring of a former Microsoft HoloLens engineer. Analysts have also opined that in 2016, Apple will be pretty aggressive in developing virtual and augmented reality technology.
Whether or not that is true remains to be seen, but based on all we’ve seen and heard, Apple is definitely interested in the technology. What exactly will it yield is anyone’s guess, but you can bet that we are excited to find out.
Filed in . Read more about Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR).