Where does Apple fit into the augmented reality market?

Microsoft’s HoleLens has done nothing but impress since it came out, wooing spectators with dazzling demos of Minecraft on the living room table and less exciting but arguably more important, turning holographic bodies inside out for educational purposes. HoloLens is going to be big, and while such a statement might be seen as a risky one, it’s one that is echoing throughout the tech media these days. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that while his company was building Windows 10, HoloLens was always at the top of the company’s priorities. “I don’t want to overhype it like Google Glass,” Nadella said, but the impressive demos themselves have acted as a preclusion to any kind of overhyping.

So it’s not surprising that augmented and virtual worlds are being treated seriously by the world’s biggest tech giants. Faceboook Inc. has its hands on Oculus; Sony Mobile Communications Inc. is working on Project Morpheus; Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd has its Gear VR.

Where’s Apple fit in?

HoloLens, however, is what everyone is talking about and has got folks envisioning life inside a science fiction movie from the 90s. How has Apple dealt with Microsoft getting so much attention? Well, it looks like its coping mechanism is to create its own augmented reality headset. Not only did Apple acquire a German augmented reality company called Metaio in May this year, but the company can add that to the acquisition an Israeli firm, PrimeSense, that creates sensors that help you to see in three dimensions.

The icing on the cake is that Apple has reportedly been poaching employees from other augmented reality (AR) companies, including a lead Hololens Audio Engineer at Microsoft. Reported in Street Insider Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said, “Based on recent acquisitions of augmented reality companies, hiring of a key Microsoft Hololens employee, and conversations with industry contacts within the virtual and augmented reality spaces, we believe Apple has a team exploring the AR space.”

Apple already has patents for mounted headsets but so far the company has been fairly reticent as to its plans in the augmented/virtual reality space. Given the above evidence expect to see Apple mounting (pun intended) a challenge in holographic technology soon.

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