Apple rumored to have 'hundreds of staff' dedicated to virtual and augmented reality
This latest rumor may hint at Apple making some big moves in the virtual and augmented spaces in the near future.
It wasn’t too long ago when we learned Apple won a patent for an iPhone-powered virtual reality headset, and today, an interesting rumor has popped up regarding the company’s possible future in the VR ring.
According to a rumor published by the Financial Times, Apple has “hundreds of staff” that are dedicated to experimental virtual reality and augmented reality projects. Some of this staff are reportedly working on prototype headset configurations which Apple could one day compete against other VR headsets, such as the Oculus Rift.
The prototype headsets have reportedly been in development for several months with Apple also acquiring Flyby Media, which is an AR firm that previously worked closely with Google.
It come as no surprise at this point Apple is extremely interested in virtual and augmented reality after its track record of acquisitions and patent applications. But to hear it has “hundreds of staff” solely dedicated to the spaces may hint at it being revealed relatively soon. And seeing how Apple’s iPhone business has been slipping lately, it might be better to announce whatever they have going on sooner rather than later.
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replyDaniel Perez posted a new article, Apple rumored to have 'hundreds of staff' dedicated to virtual and augmented reality
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They're probably also counting the mail room, janitorial, and HR staff.
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Oculus does indeed have 400+ people now (not sure how much of that is on the content production side though).
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I don't doubt they have that number but it's not against the rules for them to count the other ancillary staff that have indirect roles. Look at a video games that include a ton of people outside of the development staff in the credits as well.
I used to audit medical device companies and part of it was examining the press releases so they are giving out numbers that line up with the quarterly or yearly Financials. One of the common PR things they'll say is X number of people working on a given project. The count usually is inflated with other indirect staff. The personnel number isn't something we strictly audited because it wasn't a financial that can be tied to a verifiable account but out of curiosity I tried to extrapolate the true number by looking at the payroll and seeing who was employed by the company and broke everyone up by department, job code, and so on. Even temp staff and contractors. I tried different combinations of staff, engineers, technicians, consultants, and so on. However they did it, they could count people who have full time or partial time or even indirect time since the guy who works in purchasing in a sense supports it. I didn't take it any further because ultimately the number was meaningless but it didn't clash with the full figure of their overall employment numbers. My job was more worried about the Financials and percentages they cited and staff numbers can be important when it's the entire company but small tidbits about how many are working on a specific project was just PR. The Legal team in the next room worried about how things were worded and probably cared less than we did.
I bookmarked each number I had to tie to the financial statement because new drafts of the press release came out hourly sometimes so I had to ensure that if there's changes it was justified. I caught a few spelling errors too but really that wasn't my task. Someone else usually fixed it by the next draft.
Behind the scenes they may really may not have as much as it seems working on that project because they're still playing catch up and the actual staff numbers can be lower than it really is. When it comes to numbers whether it be manpower levels, man hours spent, or budgets, management/PR loves to make it sound bigger when it's good and lower when it's good. As long as they're not misrepresenting their audited Financials then they can do whatever they want.-
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this is no different than any other system (PC/phone/etc). You want the ability to get notifications. You also want the ability to turn off notifications.
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Personally - I'd rather it just stayed separate. Less chance I forget to turn it off and then see something that gets my mind going in the wrong direction and before I know it I'm back in work mode. I'll be the first to say though what I like and want out of devices is often not what everyone else wants.
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set 'no notifications while using VR', never see notifications again, problem solved. The rest of the world can have the option of having an emergency phone call reach them while they play videogames or watch a movie.
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if only there was some way to configure which notifications the system delivers
it's entirely reasonable for someone to want to use VR and not be literally unreachable for the duration-
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Yeah, AR is more down your alley.
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I can see Apple doing a wearable AR device like Google Glass but not a full on VR headset.
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Exactly, they are making AR fashionable before they do VR.
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I can't wait until one day we have new jokes.
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iJoke
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I feel like Apple chases establishes technology now instead of inventing new devices.
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the iPhone and iPad weren't exactly the first smartphone or first tablet ever conceived. They generally know when they can enter a market with an acceptable level of quality for their brand.
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Yes, its a sign of how good they are at "perfecting" that people look back and credit them as inventors.
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