We think of Apple like this. It is not the innovative company some would have you believe, instead Apple enters an existing but nascent market and makes defining products within it. That’s pretty admirable in itself, think how the iPod, iPhone, and iPad impacted their respective markets and you get the picture. Apple is now looking to do the same with virtual reality.

Cupertino will certainly not be the first when it finally dips its toes in the VR market, but one way to show it still has the mojo that many think has gone is to define this growing tech niche. Oculus has already laid a major claim to having the defining VR product of the first generation, but Apple will look to be the defining company in taking VR to the masses.

We will see, but at the moment Apple is even playing catchup to mobile rivals Sony, Samsung, HTC, and Google, who all have excellent VR headsets of varying price tags (ahem, Google Cardboard). Cupertino is ok with this latecomer stance and has actually been working on its own VR project for some time, likely to be a VR headset.

Cupertino has been snapping up its fair share of companies in the virtual and augmented reality field, including the recent $6 million acquisition of emotion tracking software startup Emotient. Apple also apparently has a secret team numbering in hundreds that is working on the VR headset, while recently the company employed Doug Bowman, someone who is a noted expert in the virtual and augmented reality industry.

To add some more fuel to the fire, Apple CEO Tim Cook seems extra enthused (Cook is rarely someone who gets publically enthused about a niche), stating during the company’s Q4 earnings call this week:

“In terms of VR, I don’t think it’s a niche. It’s really cool and has some interesting applications,” Cook said when asked about virtual reality technology.

Last year Apple put itself into the finance sector with Apple Pay, the company’s mobile payment system that has been well received by consumers. However, according to the Wall Street Journal, Cupertino has wider aspirations and is going to launch a rival to PayPal during 2016. Read More »

While the Apple Watch has been a huge success and has become comfortably the most popular smartwatch on the market, it does have limitations. For example, it was not the game changer we thought it would be from a tech perspective and devices like the Microsoft Band have more robust health features. Read More »

Apple continues to sell huge amounts of iPhones, despite missing optimistic analyst prediction the company is thriving and making vastly more money than any other mobile brand. CEO Tim Cook was in good mood after Cupertino’s fiscal fourth quarter earnings call, saying the company is taking the fight to Android and starting to make serious headway in China. Read More »

Apple is flying very high at the moment after the company revealed that it sold 73.4 million iPhone units and posted the best ever quarterly profit in history. The enormous success of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus has driven Apple’s newest huge success, and the company’s CEO, Tim Cook, says that the most iPhone 6 owners came from Android. Read More »

Tim Cook had an extended with the Wall Street Journal’s editor-in-chief Gerard Baker at the publications WSJD Live, the inaugural event. The Apple supremo talked about the company in length. Read More »

Last night Apple recorded some bumper fourth quarter results that once again beat out analyst predictions and continued to prove why this is the biggest mobile company of them all. iPhone sales were through the roof and Apple raked in the cash. Read More »

It is nearly three years since the great Steve Jobs sadly passed away, but his legacy on tech and beyond is undoubted, whether you are an Apple fan or not. Jobs may not have been the inventor behind the i products that drove Apple’s 21st century success, but they were all his ideas and he was the driving force in creating the vision for the company today and indeed always.

Tim Cook, Apple’s current CEO has always spoken fondly of Steve, and recently said that he still thought about this friend every day. Cook also said that Steve’s vision was one he tried to carry forward and recalled the day Jobs told him that he would be taking over his role as CEO. With the anniversary of Steve Jobs’ passing soon (October 5th) Cook has sent a memo to all Apple employees praising his mentor and thanking Apple staff for carrying the vision of the company that Steve Jobs created.

Here is everything Cook had to say:

Team,
Sunday will mark the third anniversary of Steve’s passing. I’m sure that many of you will be thinking of him on that day, as I know I will.
I hope you’ll take a moment to appreciate the many ways Steve made our world better. Children learn in new ways thanks to the products he dreamed up. The most creative people on earth use them to compose symphonies and pop songs, and write everything from novels to poetry to text messages. Steve’s life’s work produced the canvas on which artists now create masterpieces.
Steve’s vision extended far beyond the years he was alive, and the values on which he built Apple will always be with us. Many of the ideas and projects we’re working on today got started after he died, but his influence on them – and on all of us – is unmistakeable.
Enjoy your weekend, and thanks for helping carry Steve’s legacy into the future.
Tim

Last year Cook remembered the second anniversary of Jobs’ death with the following email:

Tomorrow marks the second anniversary of Steve’s death. I hope everyone will reflect on what he meant to all of us and to the world. Steve was an amazing human being and left the world a better place. I think of him often and find enormous strength in memories of his friendship, vision and leadership. He left behind a company that only he could have built and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple. We will continue to honour his memory by dedicating ourselves to the work he loved so much. There is no higher tribute to his memory. I know that he would be proud of all of you.