Mikey Campbell
A handful of recent Apple corporate job postings suggest the company is experimenting with virtual and augmented reality hardware and software, an area of intense interest some believe will be the next tech battleground.
A batch of corporate positions listed on Apple's jobs website reveals that the company is looking to build a team of specialists to work on hardware and software programs relating to virtual reality technology.
One of the positions, first spotted on Thursday and titled "Sr. Display Systems Engineer," seeks a candidate who will work with software, electrical and mechanical engineers on virtual reality hardware. Duties include testing displays for virtual environments, working with display vendors on custom hardware, designing and selecting hardware and software components for "a variety" of VR environments and developing software for display support.
The job description notes Apple is seeking applicants who can "understand how to drive displays from multiple synced sources at high frame rates with low latency" and is familiar with the pitfalls of developing "extremely high fidelity VR environments."
One of the hurdles to successfully realizing a virtual reality headset is display latency and congruency with head movement. FaceBook-owned Oculus, for example, switched from LCD to OLED panels in its latest development kit for the technology's low-latency capabilities.
The VR company is also experimenting with low persistence of vision implementations, which help reduce motion blur and judder by essentially strobing pixels at a high rate instead of keeping those pixels illuminated persistently. Coupled with head tracking technology, low persistence tech translates into a more accurate representation of the virtual world and helps reduce nausea some users experience due to the disconnect between what they see and feel.
Apple also posted two listings for a "VR/AR Programmer" in both software and hardware engineering categories, one hit the website in December while another showed up earlier this month. Unlike the display engineer positions, the programming jobs focus on the software that may one day be used on Apple devices with built-in virtual reality capabilities.
Recently, Apple has shown increased interest in virtual and augmented reality technology. Last week, the company was awarded a U.S. patent for head-mounted virtual reality hardware that uses an iPhone for a display, while other inventions point to head-tracking implementations similar to those
In 2013, the company spent a rumored $360 million on Israel-based firm PrimeSense, best known for its work on Microsoft's original Kinect motion tracking accessory for Xbox. Late last year, Apple received the first IP reassignment from the acquisition in a patent covering hardware support for 3D mapping and computer vision.
AppleInsider Staff
Malcolm Owen
Oliver Haslam
Andrew O'Hara
Wesley Hilliard
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
15 Comments
There are some here for whom no virtual reality displays are required. Back in the real world, maybe this has potential as a game thing, but I don't see headsets ever catching on with the public.
This excites me. I've long thought Apple could be the firm to make video eyewear comfortable, stylish, and with a better user experience. I've owned several pairs of video glasses, and they reminded me of MP3 players before the iPod: functional but big, ugly, and overly technical. I'm hoping that these signs (acquisitions, hiring) are indicators that Apple is getting closer to bringing a product to market.
There are some here for whom no virtual reality displays are required.
Back in the real world, maybe this has potential as a game thing, but I don't see headsets ever catching on with the public.
Same here. A professor of mine has gotten into the habit of claiming HoloLens will be the future and everywhere in five years. I want to slap him every time he says that. That goes against everything computing has done in the past fifty years.
This excites me. I've long thought Apple could be the firm to make video eyewear comfortable, stylish, and with a better user experience. I've owned several pairs of video glasses, and they reminded me of MP3 players before the iPod: functional but big, ugly, and overly technical. I'm hoping that these signs (acquisitions, hiring) are indicators that Apple is getting closer to bringing a product to market.
I'd note that the linked image is quite old; that's a 4S at best.
[quote name="AppleInsider" url="/t/184968/apple-looking-for-hardware-and-software-engineers-to-build-virtual-reality-displays#post_2682302"]The job description, spotted by 9to5Mac, notes Apple is seeking applicants who can "understand how to drive displays from multiple synced sources at high frame rates with low latency" and is familiar with the pitfalls of developing "extremely high fidelity VR environments."[/quote] Is it just me or does this sound like it could be useful for CarPlay?
This is not new! Apple has been at this at least for 4 years or so...if not much longer They had job postings in similar categories way back .... So my hope is that it we will be in the market sooner than later :)