Apple acquires AR startup Vrvana for $30 million

Apple acquires AR startup Vranna for $30 million

Apple acquires AR startup Vrvana for $30 million

Reports from TechCrunch have claimed that Apple has acquired the VR/AR startup Vrvana for $30 million, a company which impressed attendees at CES 2017 with their Totem VR/AR headset, offering a camera-based 6-degrees of freedom (DOF) tracking system and the ability to track hand movements without either motion controller or tracked gloves.

This acquisition is a clear indication of what Apple wants to achieve moving forward, with the company already being rumoured to be creating their own VR/AR headset for quite some time. Right now Apple is expected to have their own product ready for a 2020 release, with this acquisition delivering Apple some of the technology they need to achieve this goal. 

What Vrvana’s technology offers is not just the ability to playback VR content but also the ability to display objects within a real-life physical space, allowing virtual elements to be projected into the real world. This could be transformative in certain use cases, perhaps working as an alternative to a traditional PC display in the future. 

 

  

Apple acquires AR startup Vranna for $30 million

 

The major disadvantage of this technology is the latency introduced when viewing real-world objects, as displaying them within the headsets will undoubtedly be slower than viewing them outside of the headset (you can’t be as fast as the human eye), though the company has stated that they have gotten this delay down to 3ms with recent prototypes. 

In June Apple acquired the eye-tracking firm SMI, whose technology also has applications within VR/AR, again pointing towards the technology that the company wants to create. Apple does not want to recreate the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive, but a VR/AR headset that can truly be called transformative. 

You can join the discussion on Apple’s reported acquisition of Vrvana on the OC3D Forums. 

Apple acquires AR startup Vranna for $30 million

Apple acquires AR startup Vrvana for $30 million

Reports from TechCrunch have claimed that Apple has acquired the VR/AR startup Vrvana for $30 million, a company which impressed attendees at CES 2017 with their Totem VR/AR headset, offering a camera-based 6-degrees of freedom (DOF) tracking system and the ability to track hand movements without either motion controller or tracked gloves.

This acquisition is a clear indication of what Apple wants to achieve moving forward, with the company already being rumoured to be creating their own VR/AR headset for quite some time. Right now Apple is expected to have their own product ready for a 2020 release, with this acquisition delivering Apple some of the technology they need to achieve this goal. 

What Vrvana’s technology offers is not just the ability to playback VR content but also the ability to display objects within a real-life physical space, allowing virtual elements to be projected into the real world. This could be transformative in certain use cases, perhaps working as an alternative to a traditional PC display in the future. 

 

  

Apple acquires AR startup Vranna for $30 million

 

The major disadvantage of this technology is the latency introduced when viewing real-world objects, as displaying them within the headsets will undoubtedly be slower than viewing them outside of the headset (you can’t be as fast as the human eye), though the company has stated that they have gotten this delay down to 3ms with recent prototypes. 

In June Apple acquired the eye-tracking firm SMI, whose technology also has applications within VR/AR, again pointing towards the technology that the company wants to create. Apple does not want to recreate the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive, but a VR/AR headset that can truly be called transformative. 

You can join the discussion on Apple’s reported acquisition of Vrvana on the OC3D Forums.Â