Apple has confirmed it did indeed purchase virtual reality company NextVR, which specializes in recording live events like concerts and sports matches to be experienced in VR, according to Business Insider.
NextVR’s website was also changed this week to read, “We’re heading in a new direction,” and the company thanked its “partners and fans around the world for the role you played in building this awesome platform for sports, music and entertainment experiences in virtual reality.”
In a statement, Apple gave Bloomberg its typical boilerplate when responding to news it has acquired a company: “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”
Apple CEO Tim Cook has briefly discussed his thoughts on augmented and virtual reality in recent years, and the company introduced support for virtual reality headsets with Mac computers in 2017.
“I think, when you look at AR today, you would see that there are consumer applications, there are enterprise applications,” Cook said in January after the company reported earnings. “This is the reason I’m so excited about it is, you rarely have a new technology where business and consumer are both see it as key to them.”
Apple did not specify a price or terms for the transaction, but 9to5Mac, an Apple-focused website that first broke the news, estimates the transaction to be worth $100 million.
