There is now no question that Apple is developing its own virtual reality/augmented reality headset. But very little is known about the upcoming glasses: For example, the intended use is still completely open. It is also still unclear when Apple is planning to introduce the headset: Mark Gurman from Bloomberg reported that Apple wanted to introduce the glasses as early as 2019 – but the usually very well-informed journalist considers an announcement this year to be likely. A market launch is scheduled for late 2022 to mid-2023.
But now there are increasing indications that Apple is actually giving a first preview of the headset at the start of the Worldwide Developers Conference 2022 on June 6th. As early as February 2022, the name of an unknown operating system appeared in communication protocols between Apple’s development environment Xcode and App Store Connect: RealityOS.
Registered trademark
Well became knownthat a company called “Realityo Systems LLC” registered the trademark “RealityOS”. This would actually be nothing remarkable – but Apple has used shell companies for trademark registration in the past. For example, Apple used the company “Yosemite Research LLC” to register “Monterey” as a trademark. The interesting thing here: “Yosemite Research LLC” and “Realityo Systems LLC” are registered with exactly the same address – so it is almost certain that it is an Apple shell company.
Interesting deadline
Apple and “Realityo Systems LLC” registered “RealityOS” as a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office as early as December 2021 – Apple chose an interesting date as the deadline for registering international trademarks: June 8 – just two days after the Keynote at the Worldwide Developers Conference 2022.
“Wearable Hardware”
If you register a trademark, you must always state the type of use. Under the RealityOS trademark, Apple identifies “computer hardware design and development,” “software,” “peripherals,” “computers,” and “video games.” However, the following classification is much more important: “Wearable Hardware”. The trademark application also states that Apple and “Realityo Systems LLC” have not previously used the trademark and that it refers to a product that has not yet been published.
The operating system of the headset
In all probability, RealityOS will be the operating system of the Apple headset. In the future, Apple will not only offer macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS and audioOS (this is the HomePod software), but also RealityOS. It is interesting that Apple did not choose the spelling realityOS with a small first letter for the trademark, but “RealityOS” with a capital R.