Tim Cook Gives Virtual Reality The Thumbs Up

Apple CEO Tim Cook has dropped the biggest hint yet that the company will into the Virtual Reality (VR) space.

On a recent conference call to discuss the company’s recent financial results, Cook stated his support for VR technology, saying that, “In terms of VR, I don’t think it’s a niche. It’s really cool and has some interesting applications.”

The call revealed that Apple had once again earned record quarterly revenues, helped by the sale of 74.8 million iPhones during the previous three months. Total revenues amounted to $75.8bn, a year-on-year increase of two percent.

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Cook’s statement is the latest to suggest that Apple is moving into virtual reality as it looks to diversify its product offerings.

Last week, it was revealed that the company had recruited Virginia Tech University professor Doug Bowman, an expert in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) systems, presumably to help ramp up its development of the technology.

Rumours of an Apple virtual reality device first surfaced back in February 2015, when a patent application dating from 2010 and showing a VR headset that plugs into a smartphone was revealed.

Many of the world’s leading technology firms have invested in VR over the last few years, with recent estimates from Deloitte predicting that 2016 will be the first ‘billion dollar year’ for virtual reality. The firm predicts $700m will be spent on hardware such as Oculus Rift, and $300 million splashed out on software.

In addition to this, 250 million headsets and 10 million copies of games are predicted to be sold this year, with HTC, Samsung and Sony are among the other manufacturers readying commercial VR headsets.

Earlier this month, it was revealed that Google has created its own stand-alone business to concentrate on virtual reality projects, which could mean a return for the company’s Google Glass headset.

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