
What it is: Apple acquired U.K.-based iKinema, which provided 3D motion animation tools to movie and game developers.
The best way to see the future of Apple is to track its latest acquisitions. Long before Apple introduced the iPhone and iPad, they acquired a company called Fingerworks, which specialized in touch gesture interfaces.
Then before Apple introduced augmented reality through their ARKit framework, they acquired a German company called Metaio, which specialized in augmented reality.
Now Apple has acquired a UK company called IKinema, which creates tools for creating virtual characters in animation. This technology could be used to beef up Apple’s game frameworks but will also likely help Apple improve their augmented reality features by allowing the creation of virtual characters.
Augmented reality is likely a target for Apple’s other recent acquisition of Akonia Holographics, which made augmented reality lenses. Combine all of these technologies together and you can see how augmented reality and smart glasses are going to appear in the near future.
Of course, it could be years before we see any products based on iKinema’s technology since Apple will take time to integrate it into their current frameworks, but you can be certain those technologies will arrive soon.
The future is continuing to look bright because whatever Apple introduces, Google will likely follow and advance the state of mobile and wearable technology. The next time you read any news about Apple, it could be through an augmented reality set of smart glasses.
To read more about Apple’s latest acquisition related to augmented reality, click here.