It’s an obvious fact that Apple has ambitious plans for developing augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) technologies. There were many rumours about the acquisition of California based virtual reality company, NextVR. Now, it’s confirmed.
NextVR specializes in recording live events like concerts and sports matches to be experienced in VR. The company has immense experience by working with NBA, NFL, WWE, Fox Sports, Live Nation Entertainment, HBO and the International Champions Cup. NextVR currently provides VR experiences for watching live events with headsets from PlayStation, Oculus, HTC, Microsoft, Lenovo headsets. The company holds over 40 technology patents in total.
NextVR published an announcement on its website’s landing page that ‘we are moving towards a new direction’ and the company thanked its partners and supporters all around the world.
Apple is typically secretive about their plans and products development. Even Though the experts are saying that the company will integrate its AR/VR products with NextVR’s technology. There was no official announcement from Apple about the price, but the deal was valued at $100 million by the industry blog 9to5Mac.
Through the acquisition of virtual reality company NextVR, the tech giant is moving towards the next level with AR/VR technologies. These technologies have a wide market opportunity for making the promotional activities more interactive and effective.
CEO Tim Cook has touted AR technology for several years, predicting in 2016 that people will “have AR experiences every day, almost like eating three meals a day. It will become that much a part of you.” The company in 2017 rolled out ARKit to help programming designers make versatile applications that have AR features, and retailers like Ikea, Lowe’s and Wayfair have released AR-based mobile apps to upgrade in-store and mobile shopping experiences.
Apple is looking forward to diversifying its revenue, which mostly comes from iPhone, by building new products and technologies. Now the mobile market is overcrowded because of high competition. So, the company has to focus on advancements of technology.
The deal is at least the third for Apple this year, following the purchase of Voysis, an Irish start-up that focuses on voice technology, and Dark Sky, a popular weather app.
