Apple May Have Acquired Wireless Bluetooth Audio Company To Develop Next-Gen Headphones

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Apple’s official line of headphones and earbuds have always been pretty lackluster in my eyes, but a secret acquisition might mean that Cupertino is planning on changing all of that: according to reports, Apple might have quietly purchased a small Bluetooth wireless headphone designer a couple of months ago, and are hard at work in their labs on a new pair of totally wireless cans.

The company is called Wi-Gear, and their showcase product was a line of Bluetooth headphones called iMuffs. According to 9to5Mac, the company very quietly put an “out of business” notice up on their official site two months ago, even as Wi-Gear co-founder Michael Kim moved on to a position as the iOS Bluetooth Engineer at Apple.

Nothing’s certain of course, but Wi-Gear specialized in Bluetooth compatible headphones and headphone adapters, and their notice that they will be “unable to respond to any inquiries” about their cease of operations certainly imply that there are contractual reasons behind Wi-Gear’s “demise.”

Can a wireless pair of Apple headphones be far off? Given Apple’s track record here of overpriced, underspecced headphones, I’m not hopeful, but if they can deliver a stylish wireless set of cans with sound as good as my $30 Koss PortaPros at even twice the price, I’ll be plenty excited.

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