Apple proves that it is drop-dead serious about its venture to augmented reality. On Monday, the Cupertino conglomerate has confirmed that it had just acquired a German company that is specializing in this technology.
In an email to CNET, Apple confirms that acquisition of a new tech firm is true following reports. SensoMotoric Instruments is a manufacturer of eye-tracking glasses and virtual reality goggles based in Germany. It develops the technology of different uses: augmented reality, clinical research, physical training, and linguistics. These are all mixed in digital and real-world images.
Based on the company's background, their eye-tracking glasses can monitor a person's natural eye movements which are beneficial for athletes to enhance their eye-hand coordination.
During the recent Worldwide Developers Conference 2017, Apple released the platform for creating augmented reality experiences on the iPhone and iPad called ARKit. This is primarily used to place 3D objects into reality. TechCrunch described ARKit to be a huge help in this industry, saying: "Apple just built the AR industry's shovel. Now all you have to do is decide where to dig".
While the release of the ARKit developer tool had been unexpected, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed to Time that the company envisions to make this new technology open to most iPads and iPhones rather than being tangled to a specific design.
Apple's prime-moving initiative is bound to make itself a leader in this race against Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and other firms. Google might have released its Tango AR project long before Apple could with its ARKit, Google' will find it hard to keep up with Apple for two reasons: First, its Tango tool is exclusive to Tango phones, and second, Android is still fragmented at this stage.
