Apple Inc has reportedly bought out US headset manufacturer Mira following its Vision Quest headset debut on Monday, a Verge report revealed on Tuesday.
The report cited an Instagram post from Ben Taft, Founder and Chief Executive, Mira, and sources familiar with the matter. According to the Verge report, Apple acquired roughly 11 Mira employees.
In the post, Taft said: “Excited for Mira’s next chapter, at Apple :). 7 year journey from dorm room to acquisition.”
The company and its chief executive have not responded to reports at the time of writing. However, the report notes that Apple has confirmed the acquisition.
Apple told The Verge in a statement: “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”
Mira is a Los Angeles, California-based augmented reality (AR) company that creates headsets. Its target markets are the enterprise and the United States military, namely the US Air Force and US Navy.
It also developed the Mario Kart virtual reality ride at Nintendo World locations in Japan and Universal Studios in Los Angeles.
Apple, Mira, and Merger Mania across the XR Industry
The Mira acquisition comes just a day after Apple debuted its Vision Pro headset at the firm’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC).
It also comes just days after Meta Platforms, the world’s biggest headset seller by volume, revealed crucial details on the Meta Quest 3. Meta will also provide full details on the device at the Connect 2023 event in September.
Apple and Meta are set to compete for the immersive hardware space as the latter dominates roughly 80 per cent of the market. Additionally, the two firms have squared off over advert revenues, where Apple restricted Meta’s access to cookies needed to generate advertising funds.
This triggered strong responses from the Menlo Park-based firm. This also sparked lawsuits from Facebook users, who sued Meta for allegedly dodging Apple’s privacy policies.
Several massive acquisitions have taken place in the XR industry over the last few years. Microsoft has also aimed to finalise its $68 billion USD Activision Blizzard buyout — the largest tech buyout in modern history.
However, the deal faces roadblocks with US authorities but has received approval from the European Union. The latter has stated that the acquisition would help drive competition for European tech firms, under the conditions outlined by Brussels.
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed an administrative complaint against the acquisition. The FTC stated the deal could “enable Microsoft to suppress competitors to its Xbox gaming consoles and its rapidly growing subscription and cloud-gaming business.”
