Just one day after launching a new line of virtual reality (VR) products, Apple Vision Prothe tech giant confirmed the acquisition of Mira, a startup of augmented reality offering hands-free headsets for smartphones.
On June 7, The Verge reported that Apple’s latest acquisition had been revealed via a private Instagram post shared by Mira CEO Ben Taft, which Apple later confirmed to the outlet. The Apple Vision Pro, which is expected to hit the market in early 2024, is the most expensive mixed reality device, currently priced at $3,499..
Vision Pro is packed with innovations geared towards personalized virtual reality, while Mira’s headsets are designed for industrial applications. Current use cases include chemical, steel and food manufacturing, mining services and defense. Other notable applications include manufacturing augmented reality headsets for Universal Studios at Nintendo World theme parks.
In response to The Verge’s request for comment, Apple stated:
“Apple buys smaller tech companies from time to time, and we generally don’t discuss our purpose or plans.”
According to reports, Mira has raised $17 million in funding in the past from investors like Blue Bear Capital and Sequoia.; however, Apple’s investment for the company’s acquisition remains undisclosed.
According to the data from PrivCo, Mira had a post-money – or post-investment – valuation in the range of $50 million to $100 million as of July 29, 2020. Furthermore, IPqwery confirms that the company owns 14 patents and 8 trademarks.
Apple has not yet responded to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.
Although Apple decided to explicitly exclude the words “metaverse” or “virtual reality” during the launch of Vision Pro, tech entrepreneurs see the device’s potential to accelerate adoption of that crypto-related ecosystem.
In addition to the tech giants, there are public organizations that have also begun to experiment with the metaverse. Recently, the Chinese city of Nanjing inaugurated China Metaverse Technology and Application Innovation Platform to boost metaverse research and development across the country.
The goal of the platform is to serve as a resource center for initiatives related to the metaverse. Other large Chinese cities, such as Shanghai, have also launched various initiatives related to the metaverse. hoping to earn an annual revenue of 350 billion yuan ($49.6 billion) by 2025.
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