9to5Mac is reportingthat Apple, two months ago, acquired Wi-Gear, a boutique design company well regarded for their line of A2DP stereo headphones dubbed iMuffs. Based out of San Francisco, Wi-Gear not only manufacturedheadphones but also designed a Bluetooth 2.0 adapter for older iOS devices that don’t support Bluetooth 2.0.
The sum payed by Apple for the company remains unknown, but Apple appears to have brought on some of Wi-Gear’s employees in addition to acquiring their underlying technology. Wi-Gear co-founder Michael Kim’s LinkedIn profile now lists his job title as “iOS Bluetooth Engineer at Apple Inc.” Wi-Gear’s former CEO, Mark Pundsack, however, has not updated his LinkedIn profile just yet, though it’s possible that he decided not to join Apple at all.
Apple plans to build its own stereo Bluetooth headphones for future iOS devices and MacBooks with technology and expertise from Wi-Gear. As you’ll recall, Apple didn’t have a great amount of success with its own Bluetooth mono headset and instead of building in-house for their new stereo product, decided to pick up the small Wi-Gear outfit.
Tue, Nov 9, 2010
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