According to 9to5 Mac, Apple has acquired Wi-Gear which is a small Bluetooth headphone designer from San Francisco. Previously Wi-Gear had made A2DP stereo headphones known as iMuffs along with Bluetooth adaptors for older generation iOS devices that did not support Bluetooth 2.0 and A2DP. Wi-Gear products were always aimed squarely at iPod devices.
Wi-Gear co-founder Michael Kim is now known to be on the team at Apple under the title of iOS Bluetooth Engineer. Will this acquisition lead to Apple releasing their own branded headphones using the knowledge and experience gained from Wi-Gear, or will Kim simply be helping Apple make a better Bluetooth stack to support 3rd party headsets?
Having used A2DP headphones many times in the past, the experience with music has never been great compared to a high quality wired pair, however listening to podcasts and spoken word is more than acceptable. Maybe Apple will find a way to deliver a great wireless music experience too, when this finally comes to fruition.
UPDATE: Wi-Gear CEO Mark Pundsack has said via email to Tech Trader Daily that, the rumor is false and Wi-Gear and its IP are still available for sale.
