Apple's casting the net wide when it comes to hiring the right people to get its nascent augmented reality project off the ground.
According to a new report from Bloomberg, the company has been tapping up employees of Nasa for the project, hiring Jeff Norris, founder of the Mission Operations Innovation Office of Nasa's Jet Propulsion Lab.
Norris was responsible for getting Microsoft's HoloLens onto the International Space Station, and for work in getting offworld technology such as Mars rovers to work with VR and AR gadgetry back on Earth. So he's definitely got the expertise the Cupertino company is after.
Infinity and beyond
Bloomberg's sources state that Norris has been with Apple since earlier this year, working as part of an augmented reality team being headed up by former Dolby Labs executive Mike Rockwell.
Norris has been specifically tasked with bringing Apple's augmented reality glasses to life, as well as feature for future iPhones that will make use of augmented reality technologies.
Tim Cook, Apple CEO, seems to be betting the farm on AR tech as the future of personal computing. Predicting that AR experiences will become as ubiquitous as "eating three meals a day", he's been uncharacteristically vocal in singing the praises of the potential of augmented reality.
Whereas companies like Facebook, Google and Samsung seem more invested in chasing the potential in virtual reality, Tim Cook has actively steered Apple away from that area.
With a saturated smartphone market, stalling tablet sales and rocky computing market, Apple will hope its AR interests inject fresh excitement into its product portfolio.
