Connecticut: Virtual reality is a new but growing segment and a recent job posting from Apple suggests the company’s intention to explore the segment. What is clear, though, is Apple is starting to get serious about virtual reality. More specifically, Apple is looking for app developers to build user interfaces and “high performance apps that integrate with Virtual Reality systems for prototyping and user testing.”
Apple is hinting at its interest in developing apps for virtual reality experiences and hiring engineers to assist in the efforts. The evidence comes from a new job listing that Apple posted over the weekend seeking app engineers experienced with 3D graphics, virtual reality, and augmented reality.
The job listing doesn’t provide many other details in terms of what exactly Apple is working on, but it sure sounds a lot like the company is interested in developing virtual reality and or augmented reality experiences of some kind. As for what “virtual reality systems” Apple is referring to, it’s unclear if the company has plans to integrate software with third-party hardware— like the growing number of iPhone accessories for VR experiences— or perhaps its own virtual reality hardware of sorts.
All solutions will require app developers to support the platform and build experiences that make the hardware appealing to consumers, but many products like Oculus and Sony’s competitor are still in a beta mode with only development units available.
Apple has published a number of patents related to various 3D iphone user interfaces, but until today there haven’t been any solid hints that it is actively developing virtual reality software. Earlier this month a report claimed that Apple was developing 3D iPhone display tech and software that doesn’t require the use of special glasses.
