Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Apple Acquires Virtual Reality Service "NextVR" for $100 Million


Sat 16 May 2020 | 12:37 AM
Taarek Refaat

Apple acquired virtual reality company “NextVR” for about $ 100 million, as the tech giant has deepened entertainment and digital services recently.

NextVR provides access to events such as concerts and sporting events through virtual reality. Meantime, the service was shutdown across different platforms, such as Oculus.

"Our company buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally don't discuss our goal or plans," an Apple spokesman said to Business Insider.

Apple doesn't usually reveal the reason behind its acquisitions, but given the company's recent push into entertainment with its new TV+ service, the acquisition of a company that offers entertainment and sports programming through virtual reality matches Apple's ambitions, as the US giant is seeing a slowdown in iPhone momentum.

Apple purchases a Weather app.

It's the company's second acquisition in recent weeks, after purchasing the DarkSky Weather app. The iPhone maker has been looking at the virtual reality and augmented space for some time but, has declined to enter the slow-growing market.

Apple is reportedly developing a VR headset that will focus on entertainment and gaming as well as virtual meetings.

The phone maker reopened all 42 branded stores in China last April, a month after complete shutdown following the coronaravirus outbreak.

The Chinese iPhone makers website listed the opening time for all stores, which ranges from 10:00- 11:00 AM local time, yet, the website had previously mentioned that not all stores were open.

The reopening came for two main reasons: the first is revenue for the March quarter and the second is that China is Apple’s third largest market.

It is noteworthy that the company announced that it donated around 10 million medical masks to American health care workers, in an attempt to provide support in the global battle against the COVID-19.