A new report from Business Insider today reveals that after making its first stab at acquiring Leap Motion back in 2013, Apple may have made another offer between $30m-$50m for the augmented reality start up this year.
Leap employees were reportedly celebrating this past spring when it seemed Apple was close to acquiring the company for as much as $50 million. Things were moving along and Apple even sent out some paperwork in official folders.
However, very shortly before the deal was made official, it all fell apart, said anonymous Leap employees. According to those sources, this second attempt at an acquisition was shot down by Leap co-founders David Holz and Michael Buckwald.
While BI doesn’t mention any specific comments from Holz or Backward this time around, the cofounders have shared strong feelings about Apple in the past. Specifically, Holz was reportedly offensive when talking to Apple representatives in the past, including the comment that their tech “sucked.”
One Leap employee even described Holz saying that he thought Apple was “the devil.”
Apple was allegedly not interested in Leap Motion’s hardware, but rather it’s employee talent.
The latest rumors suggest that Apple could unveil some sort of AR glasses by 2020, and the company highlighted augmented reality again at its October iPad and Mac event.
