Apple has confirmed acquiring a start-up firm, Akonia Holographics that specializes in the development of Augmented Reality glasses. The iPhone maker, however, refused to divulge further details or its future plans in the field though the acquisition does confirm the company’s plans in building an augmented reality headset sometime soon enough.
The Longmont, Colorado-based company has been in existence since 2012 when it was set up by a group of researchers engaged in the field of holography. The company has started out with the aim to develop means to store holographic data storage though it later shifted its focus to developing augmented reality glasses instead.
This perhaps has been prompted by the current market craze wherein companies are engaged in a mad race to come up with the first mass-market augmented reality glasses. The company, however, didn’t state what segment it has been focussing on, like creating glasses for consumer entertainment or for the business community. It did mention though that they do have the technology at their disposal that would enable them to create thin and transparent smart glass lenses that would allow the superimposition of images in vibrant colors.
There have earlier been reports of Apple developing augmented reality glasses, and that the first commercial grade products are likely to be ready as early as 2020 itself. The company, however, didn’t confirm any of that even though its CEO, Tim Cook has gone on record stating augmented reality to have a lot of potential in future.
Apple has also been pretty late with its AR plans so far, with rivals Microsoft having already launched its HoloLens glasses even though those cater to the business community largely. Then there also is MagicLeap that too has brought to the market the Magic Leap AR glasses.
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No wonder Apple too would be joining the list sometime soon though it’s anybody’s guess right now how soon that is going to happen. As it is, the company is notorious for launching products that are polished in almost every aspect. As such, it might be late in coming up with AR glasses though when it does; it’s going to be a pretty much-matured product, that is almost a surety.
