14 DAY TRIAL // An open position for iOS Software Engineer in the Santa Clara Valley offices of Apple Inc. hints at expanded development for implementing 3D technology in the company’s portables.
Apple Inc. is seeking a Computer Vision specialist to beef up its team of engineers handling multi-view stereo research for the company.
“As a member of this team you should have a genuine interest in technology and be a skilled developer with knowledge and experience in Computer Vision, Image Analysis and 3D geometry,” reads the latest ad posted on the Mac maker’s corporate jobs site.
The new recruit will require a Ph.D. degree in a Computer Vision related field. According to the advert, these include (but are seemingly not limited to) Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science.
The ideal candidate needs to be “a confident and experienced C programmer” and, “most importantly”, Apple outlines, “you should have experience within one or several of the following areas:
* Multi-view stereo and 3D reconstruction * Inpainting of occluded geometry and texture data * SLAM * Mesh texturing techniques * Large scale bundle adjustment * Cameras and surfaces in a 3D environment”
Apple has been reluctant to introduce 3D imaging technology in its products, not because the company doesn’t possess the technical know-how, but because each new major breakthrough needs to look and feel revolutionary, history has shown.
Even seemingly minor features such as cut/copy/paste have made their way into Apple’s iOS much later, compared to competing platforms.
Notification Center was another flagship example of Apple’s modus operandi. Apple refused to update its rather cumbersome notifications system until the perfect concept came around (from someone who didn’t even work at Apple). The company eventually hired the guy who designed it and thus legally implemented the system in iOS.
The company run by Tim Cook will therefore do a lot of homework before introducing a feature like 3D imaging in its iPhone and iPad devices.