Apple’s fans, this article is for you! For the moment it seems that the company didn’t explore the avant-garde ways of virtual and augmented reality, but rumors and revelations make everyone think that it will do soon.

Actually this isn’t a new story: maybe it’s because its fans can’t understand the reason of this delay in picking up last tech trends or maybe because at every announced conference there’s the hope of finding some augmented reality news, anyway from time to time the news come out and make everyone talk.

The first time it was in 2013, when the company acquired PrimeSense, company specialized in the world of 3D. Then it happened again in May of this year: the rumors started again with the acquisition of Metaio, company developer of an augmented reality software using a special language called AREL, linked to the Proactive feature of iOS 9.

This enthusiasm was then followed by a new period of silence, and no one talked about it anymore until some days ago, when new indiscretions started to come out: in fact, on the base of a Business Insider report, it seems that Apple hired a former Microsoft employee that was working on their most avant-garde product, the HoloLens.

After this rumor the world of augmented reality fans was already thinking to the big announcement moment, probably the conference set for the 7th September. Unluckily even this time no news about augmented reality.

What we can think is that probably, even without releasing any official comment, Apple is working from at least two years on an augmented reality project; two years are long, so there’s a good possibility that it is a big project: we are every day more curious!

Appassionati del marchio Apple, questo articolo è per voi! Per il momento la Mela sembra non aver ancora esplorato le vie all’avanguardia di realtà virtuale e aumentata, ma indiscrezioni e sussurri fanno pensare che presto lo farà.

In realtà non si tratta di una storia proprio nuovissima: sarà perché i suoi fan non si capacitano di questo ritardo nel cogliere gli ultimi trend tecnologici, sarà perché a ogni conferenza annunciata ci si aspetta di trovare proprio la novità legata alla realtà aumentata, ecco che di tanto in tanto la notizia esce fuori e fa scalpore.

La prima volta fu nel 2013, quando la compagnia acquistò PrimeSense, azienda esperta nel mondo del 3D. Poi accadde di nuovo lo scorso Maggio: le indiscrezioni ricominciarono con l’acquisto della firma Metaio, compagnia sviluppatrice del software per realtà aumentata che utilizza un particolare linguaggio chiamato AREL, legato all’annuncio della feature di iOS 9 chiamata Proactive.

Questo entusiasmo venne però poi seguito da un altro silenzio, e non se ne parlò più sino a qualche giorno fa, quando ennesime indiscrezioni iniziarono a serpeggiare nuovamente: sembrerebbe infatti, basandosi su un report di Business Insider, che Apple abbia assunto un ex-dipendente di Microsoft che si occupava proprio del prodotto più all’avanguardia della compagnia, ovvero gli HoloLens.

In seguito a questa voce il mondo degli appassionati di realtà aumentata già pregustava il momento in cui la compagnia avrebbe presentato le novità, fissato alla conferenza del 7 Settembre. Purtroppo tutto questo fermento è stato inutile, perché alla conferenza non è stato toccato l’argomento.

Quel che viene da pensare è che molto probabilmente, pur non avendo annunciato nulla di ufficiale, Apple stia lavorando da almeno due anni su un progetto legato alla realtà aumentata; due anni sono lunghi, quindi probabilmente si tratterà di un progetto di grandi dimensioni: siamo sempre più curiosi!

During last days, Apple Inc. was on the lips of all Augmented Reality fans thanks to some news related to this famous new technology.

It’s not a news the competition between Google and Apple, especially when it is about the voice based search components: if Google owns the powerful Google Now (about which has been announced an enhancement soon at Google I/O conference few days ago), Apple unveiled a new feature they’re working on. The feature is called Proactive and it is expected to come with iOS 9: it will replace, or become part of, the traditional Spotlight search menu and it will be fully integrated with Siri, Contacts, Maps, Calendars, Passbook and more. Ok, but what about Augmented Reality? Rumors say that Proactive will not just be integrated with Apple Maps, but it will show them in augmented mode: it seems that in few years, maybe months, all the iPhone owners will be used to 3D maps and to know a lot more of useful information that will be showed on them through a feature called “Browse Around me” .

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As we said, these are rumors and everything could change suddenly; but another news that came out lately seems to confirm what we heard. Few days ago, Apple acquired the German company Metaio: they are the developers of an important Augmented Reality Software that uses a particular language called AREL (AR Experience Language) and that provides the tools for other developers to produce augmented experiences within their own apps. It is used especially for developing travel-related companies apps.

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To give a better idea, these are two examples of works done using the Metaio software:

The Berlin TimeTraveller App

Ferrari’s Showroom App

Proactive + Metaio: these news gives a pretty clear suggestion of the direction that Apple, even if in late compared to other big companies, is taking. Now we can only wait and see what happens, but surely it will not be long.