Apple hires wearable computing expert

Posted on 16 Mar 2010 at 10:57

While Apple is currently pushing its iPad slate PC - and, with the company being estimated to have received 120,000 pre-orders in the first day of US sales alone, clearly quite successfully - the company is always looking towards the next big thing. The question is: could it be looking at wearable computing?

The concept of a computer which is always on or about your person is nothing new - and some might say that with the success of smartphones such as Apple's iPhone, that day is already here - but there has never been a truly successful 'wearable' computer in the mainstream. Apple could be looking to change all that with the news that the company has hired wearable computing specialist Richard DeVaul to its team of experts to work on a top-secret project.

Reporting on the hire, Computerworld claims that DeVaul may have come to Apple's attention through his work on the StepTrakLite iPhone app - a software pedometer that doesn't require additional sensors, along with his work on head-mounted displays during his years at MIT.

While the company's decision to hire DeVaul doesn't guarantee that the company is looking at wearable computing as its next big venture, many Apple fans will be hoping for augmented reality glasses as the next iPhone add-on - something the company has already investigated in the past.

Author: Gareth Halfacree

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