Apple’s augmented reality glasses have taken a big step forward with the $30m purchase of a Canadian firm that makes AR headsets.
According to TechCrunch, Apple has acquired Vrana, which makes an AR headset called Totem, which received rave reviews from journalists – but was never shipped.
Apple is already believed to have a large team working on its AR headset, codenamed T228.
Vrana, based in Montreal, has boasted its headset allows for ‘totally immersive’ experiences.
‘Totem’s ability to display the highest FOV at the highest resolution, faster than the human eyes can perceive, allows your application to completely immerse your customer in an unprecedented way,’ it claims on its website.
The deal was for around $30 million, two sources told TechCrunch, and a number of the startup’s employees have already joined Apple in California.
It has previously been claimed Apple’s AR headset could be on shelves by 2020.
Codenamed T228, they will run a version of Apple’s iOS called ‘reality OS’, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
He wrote Apple ‘aims to have technology ready for an augmented-reality headset in 2019 and could ship a product as early as 2020.’
He says Apple’s device will have its own display and run on a new chip and operating system, ‘according to people familiar with the situation’.
It is believed the software will be a ‘fork’ of the iOS software on iPhones and iPads – similar to the version created for the Apple Watch.
It has been named ‘rOS’ for ‘reality operating system,’
A secret team team is working on several hardware and software projects under the umbrella code name of ‘T288’, it is claimed.
It is believed the firm is taking its time to make sure the technology is ready.
‘Anything you would see on the market any time soon would not be something any of us would be satisfied with,’ Tim Cook recently told The Independent when talking about the firm’s AR plans.
Jony Ive told The New Yorker’s TechFest conference last month the iPhone X and its screen had faced a similar issue, saying ‘there are certain ideas that we have and we are waiting for the technology to catch up with the idea.’
The firm is believed to be investigating touch panels, voice-activation via Siri and head gestures to control the glasses, and a recent Apple AR glasses patent details a head-mounted, touch-screen display that could work alongside an iPhone.
According to Bloomberg, engineers are prototyping applications from mapping to virtual meeting rooms and 360-degree video playback using HTC Vive headsets.
A special development kit similar to Samsung’s Gear VR and Google’s Daydream using as iPhone as a screen is also being made, although it is believed it will only be used internally to develop apps for the new glasses.
Rumors that Apple is planning to bring introduce augmented reality smart glasses have been swirling since March.
In July, it was revealed that the tech giant filed a patent application showing how the AR glasses would work.
Now, it’s reported that Catcher Technology, a Taiwanese company that manufactures metal casings for Apple products, may also make parts for Apple’s AR glasses.
Allen Horng, the chairman of Catcher Technology, did not confirm what project his company is working on, but there has been speculation that it’s working on Apple’s AR product – given that the company already works with Apple on its product casings.
‘Based on what we have learned, [new AR products] need to look good and be light enough to wear … that makes the casings for such device very complicated to manufacture and there are still a lot of challenges to overcome currently,’ Allen Horng said in an earnings conference on Tuesday, November 7th.
The Apple AR glasses patent details a head-mounted, touch-screen display that could work alongside an iPhone.
It also presents a way of representing points of interest (a landmark or an object such as a moving car) in a view of a real environment on an iPhone screen, with interaction functionality.
As such, the iPhone could potentially connect to the AR headset, allowing the wearer to see point of interest in real time.
This is particularly useful for AR apps such as tour guides for exploring new cities.
