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Apple Acquires AR Headset Firm Mira, Which Contributed Tech to Mario Kart Ride at Super Nintendo World

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Just a day after Apple debuted its Vision Pro headset, The Verge reports that Apple has acquired AR headset startup Mira, a firm most known to the public for providing some of the lens technology found in headsets used on Mario Kart rides in Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan and Universal Studios Hollywood.

mira-mario-kart-ride-universal.jpg

The Verge says Mira CEO Ben Taft shared a private photo on Instagram showing a number of Apple employee badges with the comment "Excited for Mira’s next chapter, at Apple :). 7 year journey from dorm room to acquisition." At least 11 Mira employees have reportedly joined Apple, which essentially confirmed the acquisition by issuing its standard press statement to The Verge, saying only that "we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."

In addition to the Mario Kart ride partnership, Mira has also been involved in military contracts and has promoted its headsets for use in manufacturing and mining settings, but it's unlikely most of these efforts will continue under Apple's ownership.

Apple has obviously already developed significant expertise in augmented and virtual reality, so it's unclear exactly why it has acquired Mira, but it's likely to be related to continuing to bolster its talent in the area or perhaps intellectual property rights.

Update June 7: This article has been updated to clarify Mira's contributions to the Mario Kart ride headset.

Article Link: Apple Acquires AR Headset Firm Mira, Which Contributed Tech to Mario Kart Ride at Super Nintendo World
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2023/06/06/apple-acquires-ar-headset-firm-mira/
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MacRumors said:
Just a day after Apple debuted its Vision Pro headset, The Verge reports that Apple has acquired AR headset startup Mira, a firm most known to the public for providing headsets used on Mario Kart rides in Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan and Universal Studios Hollywood.
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Likely Apple wants to have future Vision Pro variation use some of the patients that Mira owns. Mira video shows it being used in industrial workplace settings rather than say someone carrying a device around in hand.
 
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MacRumors said:
In addition to the Mario Kart ride partnership, Mira has also been involved in military contracts and has promoted its headsets for use in manufacturing and mining settings, but it's unlikely most of these efforts will continue under Apple's ownership.
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Mario Kart and Minesweeper: two amazing games coming to Vision Pro.
 
If I had to guess why they bought Mira, it's to figure out how to easily manufacture the future consumer model Apple Vision. The Vision Pro is very complicated and difficult to manufacture, which is one of the reasons it costs $3500. For a consumer model to succeed they need to be able to make a lot of these easily and quickly and get that price way down.
 
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MacRumors said:
Apple has obviously already developed significant expertise in augmented and virtual reality, so it's unclear exactly why it has acquired Mira
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Probably to expand their market. A 3,5k headset seems destined for military, industrial and amusement-parks/art exhibitions.
 
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Spaceboi Scaphandre said:
For a consumer model to succeed they need to be able to make a lot of these easily and quickly and get that price way down, just like they did with the Apple Watch with the Series 3.
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Um, series 3 was 14% more expensive than series 0 ($349 vs. $399 for series 3).

Maybe you mean the watch SE, which is $249 which would translate to $2499 on the Vision SE. Still a bit much for iPadOS worn on your head and lacking haptic feedback

(although, I guess by the time the SE comes out, they will have a "stylus" moment and at least make a framework for third party VR-controllers to work - or have ordinary objects act as ones - just use a dinner plate as a driving wheel)
 
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Spaceboi Scaphandre said:
If I had to guess why they bought Mira, it's to figure out how to easily manufacture the future consumer model Apple Vision. The Vision Pro is very complicated and difficult to manufacture, which is one of the reasons it costs $3500. For a consumer model to succeed they need to be able to make a lot of these easily and quickly and get that price way down, just like they did with the Apple Watch with the Series 3.
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Apple knows manufacturing like it knows its own skin.
 
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sza said:
The cost is mainly because of the R&D. Apple spent many years on this useless product and they had to finally deliver it before Cook’s retirement.
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Nah, those lens assemblies, sensors, curved glass front (which has to be precise enough to work in tandem with the probably also custom made camera lenses) cost a lot, product numbers will be low and assembly is probably tricky as well. I wouldn't be surprised if it costs apple around 2k to build one. Of course they are not going to sell them at cost like meta, but they are by far not going to recoup their R&D with a few hundred thousands or even a few millions of headsets sold.
 
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sza said:
The cost is mainly because of the R&D. Apple spent many years on this useless product and they had to finally deliver it before Cook’s retirement.
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Why do you consider it useless? A statement like this without any explanation completely lacks credibility.
 
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Unami said:
Um, series 3 was 14% more expensive than series 0 ($349 vs. $399 for series 3).

Maybe you mean the watch SE, which is $249 which would translate to $2499 on the Vision SE. Still a bit much for iPadOS worn on your head and lacking haptic feedback

(although, I guess by the time the SE comes out, they will have a "stylus" moment and at least make a framework for third party VR-controllers to work - or have ordinary objects act as ones - just use a dinner plate as a driving wheel)
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You want haptic feedback....on your forehead? What would that mean exactly? What would that be simulating? I dont understand this request at all....

Also they show it working with controllers...someone was shown playing a game using a PS5 controller. So that framework already exists.
 
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People complain about the $3.5K start price, but for me, to have a big screen "theater" display and multiple live screens scattered around my head is worth the price of admission. I am very interested to see productivity apps (Excel, Word) running on this thing, presumably using a physical keyboard and trackpad. I would also like to see what happens if I turn around 360 degrees, can I place open displays behind my head and rotate to see them (or better yet, swipe to have all my open screens scroll left or right to bring what I want in front of me. I assume the system would only animate/display those things that are in front of me and not waste display processing those things beyond my peripheral vision. I can't wait to try this on in-store in 2024. I wonder what the wait times will be for delivery? I am thinking practical, but the consumptive use looks like fun. Saw a tester report on the Wall Street Journal that this makes 3D movies make sense.
 
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The Apple Vision Pro is expensive.

The original Apple Macintosh was $2,495 US dollars...in 1984.

That's approximately $7,285 in 2023 money.

It may yet fail. It could succeed and become a disruptive device that replaces phones, monitors, televisions, media formats, and more...or something somewhere in between. We'll see.
 
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Spaceboi Scaphandre said:
The Vision Pro is very complicated and difficult to manufacture, which is one of the reasons it costs $3500.
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I bet it’s very difficult to manufacture. I bet it’s very difficult to repair. I bet it was very difficult to design and develop.

I think it’s a miracle we have a brand new, innovative product like this ready to be massed produced.

Considering all of the above and considering the Apple tax, $3,500 doesn’t sound unreasonable at all. I mean, the base Mac Pro costs $6k. Apple sells a $1k monitor stand.

A brand new product like this from a company like Apple could easily have costed $5-10k.
 
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2022: Apple puts out a press release that says "the music lives on" announcing the discontinuation of the iPod line and that the 7th gen iPod touch will be available while supplies last. It goes on to talk about what the iPod did and how everything it did for music has been integrated across all of Apple's products and touts how much more music is available anytime anywhere with Apple Music.

2035-ish: A similar press release says "the apss live on" announces the discontinuing of the iPhone and that the iPhone 30 will be available while supplies last. It then talks about how apps have been transformed with spatial computing and that the Vision Pro headset/glasses/maybe by then contacts? mean that spatial computing is available to so many people and has revolutionized everything we do every day.

That's what kept running through my head reading rumors and posts here leading up to, and while I was watching the VP announcement.
 
BobSc said:
Why do you consider it useless? A statement like this without any explanation completely lacks credibility.
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Why do I consider it useful? A statement like this without any explanation completely lacks credibility.
 
Unami said:
Nah, those lens assemblies, sensors, curved glass front (which has to be precise enough to work in tandem with the probably also custom made camera lenses) cost a lot
Click to expand...

You are just speculating. Stop using the word "probably".
 
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