Apple Acquires AR Headset Maker Mira, Vision Pro Supply Constraints, Apple and Disney M&A Chatter Grows
Hello everyone. We will talk about three Apple-related news items that came out in the past week.
Apple Acquires AR Headset Maker Mira
“Apple has acquired Mira, a Los Angeles-based AR startup that makes headsets for other companies and the US military, according to a posts from the CEO’s private Instagram account yesterday seen by The Verge and a person familiar with the matter. Apple confirmed the acquisition.
The news comes just one day after Apple unveiled the Vision Pro, a $3,499 mixed reality headset that the company has billed as a new ‘spatial’ computing platform. It’s unclear how much Apple paid for Mira, which raised about $17 million in funding to date. Jony Ive, Apple’s former design chief, was an advisor to the startup at one point, according to two former employees who requested anonymity to speak without the company’s permission.
Apple sent The Verge its typical statement it gives when it buys a company: ‘Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.’”
This has all the makings of being primarily a talent acquisition. It is certainly possible that Apple also got its hands on some patents. However, Mira’s focus on being a design-led, scrappy startup piecing together smartphone components and $15 fish bowls to come up with an AR headset with a visor-like shield speaks more to ingenuity and ideas being their most valuable asset.
Mira’s CEO and co-founder, Ben Taft, is all-in on AR while showing heavy skepticism of the metaverse/VR.
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