Apple Bought Augmented Reality Headset Company Vrvana

[OneTokenRing...]

I don't find that worrying at all. Apple is acquiring the expert talent (and IP) they need to excel in markets the company wants to pursue going forward. Smart.

It's very hard to compare the first 30 years to the last 10 on an apples to apples basis (Pun be as you will).

First theres a technology gap in hardware, software and talent between the eras. The industry was just beginning to move into the home in the 80's and early 90's. It was expensive adjusted for today's dollars computers cost between $5-10k.

Hardware computing capabilities limited what software could do even if you dreamed bigger. Education and training was also extremely limited, only die hard techies were involved.

I don't have data to back it up, but i don't believe many companies make M&A purchases in the first 5 years of their existence and most likely even 10. In the 80's i also believe there would a extremely small pool of tech companies to buy even if you wanted to do it.

Then you have Steve leaving in 85 before returning in 97...during that time apple made 5 acquisitions...so to say without steve apple is going crazy with purchases doesn't hold up since they had 12 years without him and did little.

the first 30 years of apple and very few acquisitions has more to do with a young company, a young industry, educational deficiencies and growing pains with an almost collapse leads more to why there are fewer per year purchases,

Flash forward 20-30 of those years....tech improves, educational opportunities improve, more minds entering industry, more real world applications, more money being thrown at ideas, and the rise of the smart phone. Barrier to entry is no longer $5k but sub $1000 at home with plenty of free options at schools, libraries and the power of the internet.

Big Industry, universities and government orgs were once the training and feeding grounds for early tech. Woz from HP, Paul Allen from Honeywell, Xerox, Arpa, Cal Tech, MIT....This was where you learned until the mid to late 90's

The industry is now dripping in talent developed from the growth and access to education and hardware. No longer do companies have to or can be the only source of R&D or infrastructure to produce great ideas or tech.

The last 10 years of acquisitions are that result. It's not 1 thing, but culmination and evolution of access, improvements, and growth of everything surrounding the industry.

It's not apples to apples when comparing pre and post steve jobs death when it comes to purchases. Apple has more money now to buy Talent and IP and the market is saturated with properties to buy. Given the state of patent law it seems to me to be prudent to own IP in sectors you're doing research in than to try and navigate that minefield alone.

$30 million to gain a stronger foothold in your product portfolio is much cheaper than the legal fees to defend against everyone who'll show up with a patent saying you infringed. Until patent law changes expect more and more small companies or barely off the ground ideas that have patents acquired or pending being gobbled up by the big 4 -10 (apple, google, amazon, Facebook, netflix etc) than left dangling on the open market if they show any promise.

Anyways i hope all this rambling makes some sense

TL;DR - The tech industry before the smart phone was completely different on all levels. Pre smart phone, Post smart phone worlds are impossible to compare on equal grounds.

 

[blacktape242]

whatever happened to the liquid metal they bought?

 

[globalaintist8]

Apple recently purchased Vrvana, a company that developed an augmented reality headset called Totem, reports TechCrunch.

Two sources with knowledge of the deal confirmed the acquisition, but Apple declined to comment and did not provide its usual acquisition statement. TechCrunch says Apple did not deny the story, though, and several employees who were previously with Vrvana are now with Apple.

Apple is said to have paid $30 million for Vrvana, and the deal may have taken place this summer. Vrvana's website is still up and running, but social media accounts ceased updates in August.

Vrvana developed a sort of mixed reality headset called Totem, which was never released. It was designed to combine both augmented and virtual reality technologies in a single headset, merging full VR capabilities with pass-through cameras to enable screen-based augmented reality features.

Essentially, Totem used a set of cameras to project real world images into its built-in 1440p OLED display, a somewhat unique approach that set it apart from competing products like Microsoft's HoloLens, which uses a transparent display to combine virtual and augmented reality. With Totem's approach, much richer virtual experiences were available, as full VR objects could be combined with a real-world view.

The built-in cameras were used to track the device's position in space, and additional infrared cameras were used to detect a user's hands. Several media sites were able to check out the Totem last year, and it received largely positive reviews.

Totem's technology could be built into a future Apple device, as multiple rumors suggest Apple is working on some kind of augmented reality headset or smart glasses product.

Apple is said to be building an AR headset that features a dedicated display, a built-in processor, and a new "rOS" operating system. The company is aiming to finish work on its augmented reality headset by 2019, and a finished product could be ready to ship as soon as 2020, should the project progress on schedule.

While Apple has acquired other augmented reality companies like Metaio, Faceshift, Flyby Media, and SensoMotoric Instruments, this is the first dedicated AR/VR headset hardware company Apple has purchased, signaling a deep interest in developing some kind of AR/VR wearable device.

Article Link: Apple Bought Augmented Reality Headset Company Vrvana

[doublepost=1511395424][/doublepost]Apple may end up having the same problems that Facebook had with their acquisition of Oculus. That is, a company that previous employed two key people at VrVana were simultaneously employed by another company and, at that company, they were working on camera technology that was used by VrVana. That company is a subsidiary of a larger U.S. company that also happens to be based where Apple is. How they missed this during due diligence is surprising- you could have expected it from a company like Facebook, but its surprising that Apple didnt pick it up. Otherwise, they are fully aware of it and are taking the risk. Even if this is actually an acqui-hire, the people they hired very most likely are at least one if not both of the people referred to above. Unfortunately, this stuff appears to be common in Canada since Canadians tend not to take IP issues seriously, especially compared to their U.S. counterparts. This transaction may be cheap for Apple, but there is a hidden cost and it could be right in their (California) back yard...and it could surface years from now. They may want to ask their new VrVana employees about it....