Apple has once again taken over a new company. The acquisition concerns a young company specialized in making lenses for augmented reality glasses. An Apple AR glasses is thus a bit closer. The acquisition was announced on Wednesday, Reuters
Augmented Reality glasses Apple
Augmented Reality adds an extra digital layer with information to the real world. You focus your camera on your surroundings and the virtual objects then appear on the screen of your iPhone. Think of Pokémon Go, where suddenly a Pikachu appears to be camping in your garden. Or to Apple’s new iOS 12 app, which allows you to measure objects. That extra digital layer can of course also be shown through spectacle lenses.
Akonia exists since 2012 and was founded by a group of experts in the field of holography. The company has a portfolio of more than 200 patents related to this. The screen technology that they use. enables them to make thin and transparent lenses, with vivid and colorful images across the entire glass. That fits in perfectly with the rumors about the AR glasses from Apple, which should come out in 2019 or 2020. The glasses would even have their own operating system: rOS, or: Reality OS.
The next big thing
Apple does not want to say anything about the takeover. From time to time the company takes over smaller companies. Nothing is said about the how and why, according to an Apple spokesman. Tim Cook has indicated in the past that augmented reality is ‘the next big thing’ in his eyes. Akonia is also not yet available for comment at this moment.