© metaio

Munich startup metaio snapped up by Apple

Apple recently went on a shopping spree in the Bavarian capital and bought Munich-based augmented reality startup metaio. The acquisition was reported in US magazine TechCrunch at the end of May.

The American technology group made only the usual terse comment it reserves for this kind of deal: “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time.” Nothing is known about the purchase price.

Successful: Software startup metaio

A specialist in augmented reality (AR), metaio combines views of the real world with digital information. The business was first launched in 2003 at the Gate technology and startup center in Garching. The Munich-based startup has already realized a large number of major projects, one of which is an IKEA catalog that lets users see on their mobile device how furniture would look in their own living room. Others include multimedia supplements to the Süddeutsche Zeitung magazine and an array of AR solutions for the automotive industry.