About time, Apple. Welcome to 2015.
This week at its Worldwide Developers Conference keynote, Apple finally jumped into the augmented and virtual reality world. ARKit is Apple’s tool for making AR applications, and it was the first of several announcements that show that the iPhone company is ready to take the next step into a larger world.
AR and VR could be a market that has more than 1 billion users and $ 60 billion in global revenues by 2021, tech adviser Digi-Capital estimates. And in a guest post for us, DC founder Tim Merel says that Apple “took the mobile AR war to the next level” with this announcement.
And Merel’s not the only one bullish on Apple and AR.
“With more than 130 million active iPhones in the U.S. alone and far less hardware/software fragmentation than Android, Apple’s move into AR stands to make it the largest player in the space virtually overnight. It will mint millions of new consumers for AR developers, all of whom have been shown the promise of the medium by Apple itself and are ready to see more,” says Randy Nelson of research firm Sensor Tower. “At the same time, the qualities that have made iOS the preferred platform for app developers will undoubtedly carry over to AR, so I believe Apple will make iOS the most attractive target platform possible for AR developers and content creators.”
And on the VR side, Valve says it’s bringing SteamVR to Macs. You’ll be able to play VR games on an HTC Vive or an Oculus Rift — though you may need an external graphics chip solution that Apple also announced (because, let’s face it, Macs just can’t cut VR without a little help, and Apple loves selling you accessories).
All of this has made game devs excited to see what comes from this new foray from the Mac maker.
I’m not so excited about VR coming to the Mac. I want to see something better than a slap-dash cobbling together of a Mac and an external video chip. Why do that when I can buy a VR-ready PC for less than $ 1,000 — or just hook up a headset to my powerful gaming rig? Yeah, my Air can keep being an email and Hearthstone machine.
But AR and iOS? That’s a dream team.
For AR/VR coverage, send news tips to Dean Takahashi and Jeff Grubb (for those that cross over into PC gaming). Please send guest post submissions to Rowan Kaiser. Please be sure to visit our AR/VR Channel.
—Jason Wilson, GamesBeat managing editor
P.S. Does Dean let the Wookiee win during his hands-on demo with Star Wars Holochess on an iPad Pro?
From GamesBeat
Jesse Schell: Predictions for VR and AR in 2025
Jesse Schell, CEO of Schell Games and professor at the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University, is one of the game industry’s finest speakers. We’ve interviewed him before, and we know he is passionate about virtual reality and augmented reality, and his company has published the groundbreaking VR game I Expect You To Die. […]
SteamVR now supports more (and less expensive) base stations
Valve made headlines today when Apple revealed the companies were working together to bring virtual reality and SteamVR to Mac computers, but the PC gaming company also quietly revealed some big changes to the way its VR system and devices like the HTC Vive work. SteamVR is getting an overhaul to how it tracks headsets […]
Hands-on with Apple’s augmented reality demo of Star Wars Holochess
Apple showed off its new augmented reality technology today at its Worldwide Developer Conference in San Jose, California. The company’s new ARKit developer platform should enable AR developers to make apps that can run on hundreds of millions of existing iPads and iPhones. I got a few hands-on demos of the software running on a […]
Game makers applaud Apple’s support for AR and VR
Apple surprised the emerging industries of augmented reality and virtual reality with broad support for the technologies at its Worldwide Developer Conference in San Jose, California. During the keynote, Apple showed off ARKit, which could transform hundreds of millions of iPhones and iPads into AR devices. Both the AR and VR demos that Apple showed […]
SteamVR and external GPUs are coming to Mac
Virtual realty has so far required a Windows-based PC with power chips from Intel, AMD, and Nvidia. Mac users have had to make the switch if they wanted to access the metaverse through HTC Vive or Oculus Rift. But that’s changing now because Apple is expanding its VR efforts behind the iPhone and iOS. Mac […]
Apple unveils ARKit, wants developers to turn iOS into ‘the largest AR platform in the world’
At its WWDC 2017 developer conference today, Apple announced the ARKit. As its name implies, this is a developer kit that allows developers to bring augmented reality as part of iOS 11. This is Apple’s first foray into augmented reality, and unsurprisingly the company wants to get developers onboard first. Apple promised “fast and stable […]
Beyond GamesBeat
Palmer Luckey’s New Startup Is A Military And Border Surveillance Company
It was just over two months ago now that Oculus Rift creator Palmer Luckey parted ways with Facebook. This week, we’ve finally found out what he’s doing next. The New York Times cites three sources familiar with the matter in saying that that Luckey has once again started up a new company. Instead of VR, though, this startup is working on surveillance technology targeted for use at countries between borders and military crossings. The unrevealed company has not yet been given a public name. (via UploadVR)
What Virtual Reality Means For Marketers
When new technology is introduced, businesses are never quite sure how to react. In 2008, marketing agencies were inundated with app requests from clients claiming ‘we want to be on the App store.’ Wanting to be first but not quite sure what they wanted, or why. Other businesses wondered the same thing, and today many still do. If it doesn’t serve a business need, it’s not on the radar. (via UploadVR)
The US Army Is Bringing ‘Tactical AR’ To The Battlefield
When it comes to surviving a firefight information is everything. That’s exactly why the United States military invests so much time and resources into equipping soldiers with state-of-the-art technology designed to keep them informed and updated when deployed in dangerous scenarios. (via VR Scout)
Shortly after Apple CEO Tim Cook walked on stage yesterday, he made a proclamation. “This is going to be the best and biggest WWDC ever!” It’s hard to know if it will actually be the best WWDC ever, but he’s probably right about it being the biggest. (via Motherboard)
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