Apple Acquires Virtual Reality Company NextVR

Thursday May 14, 2020 11:38 am PDT by Juli Clover

Apple has acquired California-based virtual reality company NextVR, Apple confirmed to Bloomberg today.

nextvracquisition
New's of Apple's planned NEXTVR acquisition first surfaced in April, but it appears the purchase wasn't completed until recently. Apple reportedly spent around $100 million to purchase the company.

The NextVR website has disappeared, and there is a message that says the company is "heading in a new direction." Apple gave Bloomberg its standard acquisition statement: "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."

NextVR melds virtual reality with sports, music, and entertainment, providing VR experiences for watching live events on VR headsets from PlayStation, HTC, Oculus, Google, Microsoft, and other manufacturers.

Prior to its acquisition by Apple, NextVR had established partnerships with the NBA, Wimbledon, Fox Sports, the WWE and more, plus it holds more than 40 patents that could be of interest to Apple.

Apple has been working on multiple augmented, virtual, and mixed reality headsets over the course of the last several years. Just today, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that Apple's augmented reality Smart Glasses that are in the works could launch in 2022.

Along with the smart glasses, there have also been rumors indicating Apple is working on some kind of virtual reality headset that would feature an 8K display for each eye and that would be untethered from a smartphone or computer.

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Top Rated Comments

gamesandtheory

85 months ago

The next major leap forward in consumer VR has got to be a headset that isn’t a heavy object pressing firmly against your face. Hoping a lightweight “smart glasses” form factor can deliver immersive VR in addition to AR, with minimal skin contact.

Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)

DevNull0

85 months ago

There is a HUGE Disconnect here !

Either they have something, & thus would have a value far north of $1B USD, OR they don't have much, & that's where the $100M USD comes in !

I've been following NextVR for a while. The promise sounds fantastic, but the implementation has been horrible. They don't explain what their service is, and they don't tell you what their content is or how you can access it. You could download a mostly-broken app and have a frustrating experience that leaves you still not knowing what they're trying to offer.

Basically it was a great idea run by people with no idea what they were doing and no understanding of technology, and because of that no customers and revenue, so all they had was a massive burn rate.

That's why it sounds like a $Billion idea and the price is so slow. It could easily be a multi-billion dollar product for Apple if they take it and do anything decent with the tech.

Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

UltimaKilo

85 months ago

The next major leap forward in consumer VR has got to be a headset that isn’t a heavy object pressing firmly against your face. Hoping a lightweight “smart glasses” form factor can deliver immersive VR in addition to AR, with minimal skin contact.

That reality is far, far away. Not only is the tech 10+ years away for 8K per eye, 240hz, 200+ degree FOV, it’s likely more than 20 years away before you can get that in a small form factor, and probably longer using a dedicated onboard processor.

Now 4K per eye, ~140 FOV, 120hz in a small form factor? Might be able to hit that in the next 5-6 years.

This was, however, an excellent move by Apple.

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

MacsRgr8

85 months ago

That's cool.
I had the impression AR had the focus, not so much VR.

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Cosmosent

85 months ago

Apple reportedly spent around $100 million to purchase the company.

Prior to its acquisition by Apple, NextVR had established partnerships with the NBA, Wimbledon, Fox Sports, the WWE and more, plus it holds more than 40 patents that could be of interest to Apple.

There is a HUGE Disconnect here !

Either they have something, & thus would have a value far north of $1B USD, OR they don't have much, & that's where the $100M USD comes in !

Another possibility, a VC fire sale !

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)