Paul Morris on May 15, 2021, 7:17 pm

Apple And Microsoft Rivalry Heating Up Once Again, This Time Over Augmented Reality And Gaming

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman is speculating that the historical rivalry between Apple and Microsoft – which has somewhat simmered in recent years – is about to intensify as both companies look for growth in the augmented reality and gaming spaces.

Redmond-based Microsoft and Cupertino-based Apple Inc. have had their fair share of clashes over the years.

Up until recently, the ongoing rivalry between the two companies had seemingly simmered as both technology giants took on bigger battles, going to war with other companies and focusing on their respective areas of strength.

Now, however, thanks to the impending boom of augmented reality and gaming, it seems that the rivalry could be back in full swing.

Augmented reality (AR) is an extremely interesting area of potential growth for a lot of companies but an area that both Apple and Microsoft have invested heavily in. Apple continues to offer developers sophisticated tools and frameworks in order to build cutting-edge AR experiences for Apple’s devices. Microsoft, on the other hand, has invested heavily in hardware-based AR solutions but it looks like both companies could be on the verge of a clash in pursuit of control of the AR space and other areas.

Although things have been relatively quiet on the Western Front for a number of years between these two giants, things have been getting rather heated over the last eighteen months. The companies came to loggerheads over Microsoft’s proposed xCloud streaming service that Apple rejected from its platform. Tim Cook’s company later performed a u-turn on that stance but it seems that it was too little too later.

Microsoft has also publicly supported Epic Games, a company that is currently locked in ongoing litigation with Apple. That support is sure to leave a bitter taste as both companies go head-to-head in multiple areas, including AR, gaming, cloud computing, and the personal computing market. Strap yourselves in ladies and gentleman; things are likely about to get extremely competitive and extremely interesting.

(Source: Bloomberg)