Apple Is Betting Big On AR And VR

If there’s one thing clear about this year’s WWDC , It’s that Apple is betting big on augmented and virtual reality. Like, Really BIG. 

They are partnering up with Unity and EPIC games to bring VR games and capabilities to every platform. They’re upgrading all the Macs for creating and experiencing VR. They’re selling developer kits ($600) with HTC Vive  and external GPU for encouraging developers to make Apple the No.1 VR Platform.

And yet they’re not stopping. They have also released the ARKit Framework for all the developers registered with their developer platform and made Apple the No.1 AR Platform thanks to the millions of devices already ready with it. 

As I was lucky enough to be present at the WWDC, I got to experience the Vive in real and it was just awesome. They showed us a Star Wars simulation which was buttery smooth on the new iMacs. They were also kind enough to show us the cool new AR stuff on the new iPads, Which was again a Star Wars game called “Holochess” in which the board was displayed using the camera of the iPad on the table and you could interact with that. All the objects in the AR simulation account for the shadows and lighting and it was extremely fascinating to see that.  

They’ve also partnered with many other companies which will be bringing their AR Apps this fall to all the iDevices (iPhone 6S and above & iPad Pro and above). Unreal Engine and Unity will be in sync with Apple’s latest frameworks and will be ready to make AR & VR Apps for Apple.

I think this aggressive move is partly due to Apple feeling left out in the desktop gaming scene so they’re now making sure that they get in ahead on the next gaming platforms, which are AR & VR.

I am really expecting a lot of cool new Apps to show up using the ARKit and a lot of developers seem interested in that framework here too. Heck, Even I might jump in on the AR games. 

What do you think about this move by Apple? Will their big bets pay out? Comment down below and Stay Tuned for more live WWDC coverage.