Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster, an analyst known around the Apple blogs for his incorrect prediction of an Apple TV, has issued a research note, obtained by Apple Insider, stating that he believes Apple will push hard into the virtual and augmented reality technology fields in upcoming years.
To justify his new prediction, Munster pointed toward the fact that 141 Apple employees with backgrounds in AR development could be founded on LinkedIn. This factoid does back up a claim from a Financial Times source that Apple has “secretly” assembled a team of VR and AR focused researchers.
Apple also recently hired Dr. Doug Bowman, the director of Virginia Tech’s center for human-computer interaction. Nationally renowned in the fields of virtual and augmented reality, Bowman was involved with the Microsoft Hololens project and has a list of prestigious VR and AR related awards to his name.
According to Apple Insider, Munster said Apple could acquire VR and AR related startups to jumpstart development, with Munster specifically naming Magic Leap, Movidius, Occipital and Pelican Imaging.
In recent years Apple has acquired
Emotient: Using facial expressions as a way of understanding human emotions
VocalIQ Ltd: Deciphering natural speech patterns
Metaio: Creating augmented reality scenarios
Flyby Media: Created a messaging service that attached text and video to real world objects
Faceshift: Realtime motion capture
Lytro: Using camera feeds to blend CGI with reality
Metaio: Augmented reality solutions
Perceptio: Classifying photos using artificial intelligence
"We believe 10 years from now Generation Z will find reality inefficient," Munster wrote in the research note according to Apple Insider . "We believe the concept of an 'inefficient reality' is evident through smartphone use today — the precursor to mixed reality — offering users the ability to find more information as needed."
Apple Insider went on to say Munster believes Apple will one day “phase out” the iPhone for a mixed virtual reality headset system, but that it wouldn’t happen for at least 15years. Apple has recently started carrying the Mattel’s View-Master Virtual Reality goggles in its online store, which is a similar concept to the Google Cardboard or the Samsung Gear VR.
While Munster has been the subject of some online teasing as of late because his Apple TV predictions, as one 9to5Mac commenter pointed out, if a savvy investor had heeded Munster’s advice to buy Apple stock in 1997 for $13.75 a share, they would have made nearly a 2000-percent rate of return (due to multiple two-for-one splits).
