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Apple entering the VR market?



Throughout this ever-changing technological world of virtual reality, there have been  many companies—big and small—that have invested their time and resources to develop their own personal VR headset. From the basic beginning of the Google Cardboard to the revolutionary Oculus Rift, the VR universe has only been expanding, and it is clear that many top cellular device and gaming industries wish to brand their own type of VR headsets. 



Apple is no exception to this phenomenon. Since 2013, about three years from today, Apple has been rumored to have gathered a team of at least a hundred employees that started working on virtual and augmented reality projects such as Doug Bowman—one of the leading virtual reality experts in the United States. However, in their secretive beginning, there were no real evidence that they had been working on this project. However, in 2015, their focus on this technology was brought to light, and recently, has been rumored that their involvement in virtual reality can possibly be implemented into future iOS devices such as the new iPhone 7 or new hardware products that will be introduced in the nearby future. CEO Tim Cook was questioned in 2015 if he believed that VR could possibly go mainstream, which he replied, ““In terms of virtual reality, no, I don’t think it’s a niche. I think it can be—it’s really cool and has some interesting applications,” and this response has been enough to arouse suspicions of Apple’s interest of this technologically advanced software.


Apple is said to have recently purchased Flyby Media, a startup that worked on augmented reality technologies. Through this program, Apple evidently began building prototypes of virtual reality headsets that are similar to the Oculus Rift and the Hololens from Microsoft. Apple also purchased Emotient, a startup that uses facial recognition to read people’s emotions, according to the Wall Street Journal. In addition to this, Apple has created multiple possible headset configurations, reportedly inspired by the Oculus Rift. The instances such as these show that Apple is definitely interested with this software that has the power to change the perception of how an individual sees the world. However, the company often works on secret projects that has never seen the light of day, so only time can tell if this experiment will make it past the developmental stages that it is currently going through. Until then, all we can do is wait, hoping that Apple will truly head towards its own VR headset like its leading competitors.



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