Apple has bought Metaio, the augmented reality technology company, according to a scoop by Techcrunch.
Tnooz has had its eye on Metaio as far back as five years ago
Four years ago we checked in on its vision for the augmented reality city, and how AR could change roadmaps and GPS systems. We also looked at its vision for destination marketing content.
Apple is buying a company with a substantial engineering ecosystem in dozens of countries.
Hundreds of developers, especially for travel-related companies, who want to augment street scenes on their apps in real-timem, use Metaio's platform-independent, augmented reality production software that unifies all of its software in a language that it calls AREL (AR Experience Language).
One use of AREL has been creating the Berlin TimeTraveller app. Hold your tablet device loaded with a guide app up in a relevant direction in the German capital to see video and graphical reminders of what happened at that location decades ago.
Making the whole world a touchscreen
Metaio's visionaries have since gone far beyond the ideas of augmented reality that are already well known.
This spring the company has found a way to liven up printed catalogs with software that can be embedded in mobile apps to make the scanning and saving of individual content easier.
Its Continuous Visual Search technology would let the reader of, say as a hypothetical example, an Abercrombie & Kent luxury travel brochure, scan barcodes, UPCs, QR codes, or other product hotspots in the lushly printed materials for easy saving and quick booking.
The first deployment of this technology in the wild is Bed Bath & Beyond's 2015 wedding registry catalog.
Another example of innovation: Last year Metaio prototyped the concept of Thermal Touch -- which uses infrared technology to turn any surface into an interactive experience.
In theory, this technology could turn any surface into an interactive map and directory that a traveler could touch to receive detailed, personalized information. See this video for the best illustration:
The willingness to think inside the box -- meaning, inside mobile devices -- has paid off for the European startup.
For details, see Techcrunch: Apple Acquires Augmented Reality Company Metaio
From Tnooz in 2012: Metaio unveils programming language for building augmented guide apps [VIDEO]