Apple Hires Virtual Reality Expert

What do Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page and Satya Nadella have in common with Apple’s Tim Cook? The hiring of Bowman is the clearest sign yet that virtual reality is an area that the company is actively pursuing. That’s it. Does this mean Apple is investing in virtual reality hardware and applications? “As the major players place their bets, it makes sense to remove a few key pieces, in this case a prominent VR researcher, off the board both as a defensive move and as part of Apple’s ongoing effort behind product innovation”.

That research has potential applications in spaces such as museums, where many individuals at a time can share the same experience of displays and demonstrations using VR technology. It’s impossible to know for sure, but here are three possible scenarios. Now it seems that Apple also senses the significance of virtual reality, and is looking to harness the tech, or aspects of it, for its own purposes.

In addition to growing its team of engineers, Apple has also acquired several smaller companies focused on reality-altering tech. Laptop computers certainly existed before the MacBook and the MacBook Air – and Apple TV wasn’t launched until well after other smart TV set-top boxes were already on the market. But so far there has been overwhelming evidence to suggest that Apple is at the very least exploring the technology, but what exactly becomes of it is an entirely different story. It is believed that the company will have cars with gesture control and 3D interface in the near future.

Samsung’s pitch is the Gear VR headset, which it expects will be used to view movies and games running on its flagship smartphones. He carries with him unquestionable bonafides from within academia and has received numerous awards from the industry for his pioneering research with VR and 3D interfaces.

He was also professor of computer science and director of the center for human-computer interaction at Virginia Tech, where the 3D Interaction Group was formed, and served as the general chair of the IEEE Virtual Reality Conference from 2007 to 2008.