The reality distortion field better be at record levels next week because I still don't get this headset stuff. I'd understand it as an R&D side project to be ready for 15-20 years from now when battery/compute tech might be ready. But this moonshot approach of throwing tons of resources at it and shipping something maybe even this year? Just don't see it working out.
@paul Part of the reason I made this prototype four years ago was to argue that the only valid VR play is productivity. Better workflows for architects, vfx, stock traders, etc. They have the money to spend, and a plugged in headset means no compute, thermal, battery, or weight compromises. I'm very curious to see where Apple positions their headset (if they in fact show it).
@paul When Apple launched the first Apple TV, they called it „a hobby“. However, they haven’t been a trillion dollar company back then, they haven’t even been the iPhone company yet. The iPhone changed everything - the scale of business, the perception of the media. Everything has to be „the next big thing“. There are no „hobbies“ for Apple anymore.
I have no idea how they will sell this device to the public/media without it being ripped apart for „can’t do this, can’t do that“.
@paul it’s too bad for Apple that VR gaming headsets are just low value but expensive curiosities and not transformative or value adding to most games.
Interesting tech for niche use cases… good accessory to make but not the basis of a mass consumer platform.
Yeah, I'm not understanding this whole thing either. Only thing I can think of is it would allow you to become truly mobile with "large" screens that expand your workspace without having to lug large displays around. I still don't know about wearing a headset for long periods of time.
@paul No matter what it's “supposed” to be, it's going to actually be a gaming headset. If we as a species ever get to a point where we think augmented reality is the best way to live and/or work (and that's a HUGE 'if’), it's a long way off.
@paul Optimistic take: they're attempting to deliberately take the nvidia route and use gamers as the early adopters to flush out the growing pains while quietly building up the "professional" ecosystem
Cynic take: they don't know what they're doing and just kind of trying to copy Oculus
@paul I mean we’ve heard every possible iteration of a prediction for years at this point. This feels less like insider knowledge and more blindly throwing darts enough times that some are only right by chance.
@paul maybe it's an assisted living device. It might have lidar and things in so that you can wear it and it will tell you what's in front of you and guide you around.
@paul maybe it will be a great failure, or maybe it will be great. How to know? Perhaps it would be better to just wait and see if and what they present?
Apple has great history of great products that nobody thought that they were possible (e.g., the iPhone) and weird things that never got any traction (e.g., the newton or the first iPod hi-fi speaker).
any number of virtual monitors of any size, as long as they’re retina equivalent.
That’s the killer use. Let me put an impossible number of screens around me.
No “actual 3D” stuff really matters. 2D screens are how we do things because that’s what works best. Let me have any number and size of 2D screens in my 3D space.
@paul Especially when everybody else already moved on and is now getting into AI. Investing those resources into a better Siri would have been a better idea.
@paul The problem is that I can't see the rumoured headset solving a problem. I wish that Apple concentrated on fixing/improving what they already have.
However, there could be solvable problems for other people that I'm unaware of.
@paul I really like VR and see it as another competitor to (big bad) Meta/Facebook, although if the price is as rumoured ($3,000) I don't know what it'll be going against?
@paul Could be. But it’s also what I thought about the first ipad - what, a hundreds-of-euros device above my laptop for browsing websites?
It all depends on having a killer app -or apps- and websites aren’t it. Neither are games IMO though, for mainstream. As obnoxious as Google Glass was, I’d look more into that territory than a VR set.
But I also think of the lidars they’ve been putting in iphones and ipads. Not much use after a few hours toying… but done with a purpose, I’m sure. Curious!
@paul I see it as most likely a worked example of the Abilene Paradox that, along with Meta's Metaverse boondoggle, will be taught in MBA courses in years to come (as an example of inexplicable groupthink errors): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abilene_paradox
@paul Got to release a 1.0 at some point, so why not now and then in 15 years a) Apple will have learnt a lot of lessons and b) people will hopefully be comfortable using it and seeing it in the wile. Talking with airpods in and paying with apple pay on the watch — to me at least — still feels like I’m being judged. No way i’d walk around with a vr/ar headset on my face atm. Society takes time to adjust.
@paul I’ve been a total VR and AR skeptic but I’m weirdly interested in this one. If it can replace my eyeglasses and give me a great display anywhere, I think I’m in.
@paul my guess is it will be marketed as a visual content device… screw your 75” OLED, this will turn the entire wall into a screen. On a long flight? Watch movies in your own private virtual theater… oh, and hey devs, here are the tools you’ll need to create cool things in AR/VR - when we figure out how to scale down the size & price in a year or two, your apps will be ready for the masses.
@paul I miss the days when Steve would come out and be like, we looked around at what other companies are doing, and it all sucked for these reasons, and here is our elegant delightful solution. Would be nice if we get a moment of clarity like that, but I don't know if we ever will again.
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