Now that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has finally made its augmented reality (AR) ambitions official — introducing ARKit in the forthcoming iOS 11 so that developers can create AR apps and games — it stands to reason that Apple will only get more aggressive with its AR strategy now that the cat is out of the bag. Well, it’s being reported that Apple has acquired yet another AR company: Germany-based SensoMotoric Instruments (SMI)
MacRumors followed an anonymous tip and unearthed legal documents that suggested that Apple acquired the company through a shell company. Apple subsequently confirmed the acquisition to numerous media outlets with its broken-record response: “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.” No financial terms have been disclosed or reported.
What does SMI do?
As far as how SMI could fit into Apple’s AR or potentially virtual reality (VR) plans, the German company specialized in eye-tracking technology (both hardware and software) that can be used in both AR and VR applications. For example, SMI makes Eye Tracking Glasses that can record a person’s “natural gaze behavior in real-time and in real world situations with a sampling rate up to 120 Hz.” The company also makes mobile eye tracking head-mounted displays (HMD) that are based on Samsung’s Gear VR or HTC’s Vive.
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Source: The Motley Fool