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Also, so many previous pre-announcement visualisations of Apple products were so way off-base that even if a headset does get announced, it's got an equal chance of being a $400 Siri version of the Amazon Echo Frames as it does of being what's in this article.
Hope the rumor in this article that Apple will sell the device at cost is true. Oculus understood that they needed to sell cheaply at first. I don't expect Apple to come in at $299, but the rumored $3k is a pretty heavy lift.
At £3K, they're not going after gamers or even enthusiasts. They're more likely going after creative professionals who're already all-in on the Apple ecosystem. Maybe product designers or architects, who want to show clients their designs in VR, and a slick Apple device will probably make a better impression than a PC VR setup with a bulky headset, cables everywhere, fans whirring, etc.
I think there's a false leak here, because one of the comments on the Bloomberg article mentions them going with a design where the battery is external and connected via a wire to the headset (to prevent heat issues). That seems like such a bizarre design choice for Apple that I can't imagine they'd actually do that. Just... make the chip weaker? (Like if you don't have pockets, where does the battery go? Or if you'r…
1) low quality passthrough is unpleasant
2) heavy headset is unpleasant
3) headset with weight imbalance is unpleasant
4) sensors, chips, and display all use power
5) battery with more capacity is heavier
6) battery with more power draw is hotter
7) hot headset in your face is unpleasant
8) battery at the end of a cord is ugly and annoying
So it’s easy to say “use a weaker chip”, but what if that means you have to degrade some must-have functionality? Or it means you have to wait 3 years for TSMC to come out with a smaller node before you can release your product? Battery on the end of a wire is a “bold” choice, probably an engineer won a cage match against an executive to make it happen.
I once demoed the VR goggles at Facebook HQ on a tour, my boss and I put on the glasses and were immersed in a world where there was a large dragon. We really roared with excitement and kept saying “wow, amazing” and shaking our head in astonishment as we took the headset off. Then, later we said our goodbyes and left. In the parking lot my boss and I turned to each other both agreed, that VR headset wasn’t that impr…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
At £3K, they're not going after gamers or even enthusiasts. They're more likely going after creative professionals who're already all-in on the Apple ecosystem. Maybe product designers or architects, who want to show clients their designs in VR, and a slick Apple device will probably make a better impression than a PC VR setup with a bulky headset, cables everywhere, fans whirring, etc.
That's similar to the hololens approach to market. Didn't go well.
I'm utterly unconvinced that AR/VR is a large market or is going to be game changing in every day life. I can see why Apple feel that they need to have a product in the market, but I wouldn't be surprised if its presented as “Just a Hobby” the same way that Steve Jobs presented Apple TV back when it launched (and for a good few years later). I really do think that Apple are much more likely to present some interestin…
VR and AR are a solution looking for a problem. It's admittedly a cool tech demo. I enjoyed my time playing Half Life: Alyx and The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners on my Valve Index before I decided to sell it out of disuse. The article says that Apple has a glasses product and a VR/AR product that sounds similar to a Quest Pro. So if we look at the glasses product it immediately runs into a lot of issues. Do I want…
I don't think there is a consumer market for head mounted AR anymore - if there ever really was. That makes me sad having been in AR since 2010 - and knowing what we could do with it if done right. I just don't think society currently has an appetite for a $3000 product that gives the wearer visual superpowers (that is the promise after all) and is an impossible to ignore distinction between classes. I honestly think…
> and knowing what we could do with it if done right The implication here is that you know a compelling case for "what we could do with it" and how to "do it right", so what are the answers (because I'm stumped)?
Interior design is another subject that comes to mind.
"Apple’s ambition is that customers will eventually wear the device continuously all day, replacing daily tasks done on an iPhone or a Mac such as playing games, browsing the web, emailing, doing FaceTime video calls while collaborating in apps, working out and even meditating. It will feature hand and eye control and run many of the kinds of apps found on Apple’s other devices." This concept has been well-explored i…
Does anyone on HN actually use VR to workout? That seems to be the killer use case, but I don't know anyone that's getting fit because of VR workouts.
Also, the sort of people who are going to work out consistently don't need a headset to work out. Or any other tech. They just do it.
I know you're not implying this in your comment, but if anyone thinks you are going to take someone who is sedate, strap on a cool headset and give them some sort of virtual experience that will finally motivate them to work out consistently...I'll take the other side of that bet every day...
>underscoring the narrative that the company’s biggest victories were initiated under his predecessor, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs What does the author consider to be a victory? Tim Cook was elevated because he had the operational capability to grow Apple. Jobs did not consider Cook to be a product design person. But Jobs trusted Cook to find and keep people who could design products. By any stretch of the imaginatio…
Well, there's the Apple II, the iMac, the iPod, the iPhone...
Apple has had a long history of products that redefined the future of entire categories, and almost all of them up to this point except the Apple Watch included deep involvement by Jobs.