The popularity of 'Pokemon GO' is one of the manifestations that "augmented reality" is the next big thing in the evolution of technology. Apple CEO Tim Cook in his interviews hinted about the AR/VR headsets. The same thing goes for Niantic CEO John Hanke who talked about AR glasses which overlay Pokemon.
Apple and Niantic are two tech giants that dominate the world. How far would they go when it comes to providing deep AR experience to consumers? Apple CEO Tim Cook expressed his thoughts on augmented reality in the report of Mac Rumors. Cook said that "augmented reality is larger than virtual reality". He emphasized how AR is able make someone present even if he's not present at the given moment.
In relative to that, Apple has been reportedly hired two AR specialists from Magic Leap and Oculus companies. Zeyu Li and Yury Petrov were hired to secretly work on the long rumored Apple AR products such as headsets and cars. To exacerbate the speculations, an iOS developer revealed through his series of tweets about the iOS 10 laying the grounds for augmented reality works. This has been proven through the spotted source codes embedded in iOS 10.
On the other hand, the developer of the augmented reality game "Pokemon GO" Niantic has shown signs of future plans for the game and AR context. Niantic CEO John Hanke told Recode in an interview about the company's interim steps towards enhancing the player's AR experience. One of those steps is the wearable accessory called "Pokemon GO Plus" which aimed to bring convenience to "Pokemon GO" players.
Niantic's next move based on Hanke's statement is the possibility of having a AR glasses which overlay Pokemon. This is to further leverage the company's vision of seamless overlaying of Pokemons into the environment.
The closest we can get to VR rich experience is through Oculus Rift and HTC Vive devices. But that doesn't stop there when Apple and Niantic's future AR products debuted. Socializing with people, playing and having fun as well shopping will become more interesting than it used to be.
