Apple is betting the farm on a VR headset

[elbows]

Its nothing remotely close to betting the farm on this stuff.

None of the big tech companies can afford to ignore the possibility that this stuff will become a very big thing, but we've already seen that this is not something that happens quickly, it takes many years and there can and will be plenty of missteps along the way.

Even when Apples first proper device in this area is actually ready to launch, it will take ages to find out how big this stuff might eventually become. Especially as the first device will likely still be clunky in some ways, and because it will probably be aimed more at developers and early adopters in order to deal with the 'chicken and egg' problem of needing content/apps for the platform to be available in good quantity and quality in order for the thing to eventually be really compelling to normal customers.

If Apple is able to work its magic in this area then I expect it to be down to stuff we've seen before with other products - they dont need to be first or even ridiculously innovative, they just need to go for a somewhat different mix of compromises compared to the competition, and find the right mix that makes the stuff compelling. And they have to take advantage of their existing customer base, platforms, apps etc.

I'm a developer who likes to dabble on the somewhat bleeding edge and is interested in VR and AR, but I only played around casually with this stuff so far because I new it would be a very long process for this stuff to gain serious traction, for the technology to get good enough, etc. Stuff isnt ripe enough for all the use cases with the most potential to become obvious or doable. And its taking even longer than I originally suspected, so I'm still in no hurry to put more time and effort into it at this stage. I'm more interested in AR than VR these days, but we still arent even at a stage where I would like to make futuristic predictions. And I certainly wont judge things based on the response to Apples first product in this area when it finally arrives. Such responses are not the whole story, eg when the iPad launched people were more interested in taking the piss out of its name and being negative via sentiments like 'its just a big iphone', responses that were understandable but that did not really tell us that much about whether tablets would take off over time.

 

[cybershot]

Vr is incredible for education, especially internal human body stuff. But Apple don't usually target the education sector.

 

[BristolEcho]

Vr is incredible for education, especially internal human body stuff. But Apple don't usually target the education sector.

Can see the potential there. There was a research project in Bristol seeing if it could help people with social anxiety in VR settings like GP surgeries and if this helped them to build more confidence. It was limited to people with a diagnosis of psychosis, but was interesting. Not sure on the results yet as it was last year that it closed so will probably take some time.

I struggle to see the social market at the moment.

 

[8ball]

Can see the potential there. There was a research project in Bristol seeing if it could help people with social anxiety in VR settings like GP surgeries and if this helped them to build more confidence. It was limited to people with a diagnosis of psychosis, but was interesting. Not sure on the results yet as it was last year that it closed so will probably take some time.

I struggle to see the social market at the moment.

They've also been using it in medical rehab scenarios - kids with bad burns and the like. Where some of the stretches and stuff to stop the scars stiffening can be quite painful, they get them playing games where they have to do things like reach behind their back to take an arrow from a quiver to shoot assorted baddies, or raise their arms to climb and swing among branches like monkeys, and their reported pain scores while playing the games are really low.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Flight simulator is the best experience I’ve ever had using VR, or any electronic device, followed by a car racing game in VR. A different world, the next level.
Beyond that, meh. Games specifically for VR are a bit shit, if pretty. Watching a film in VR is really fatiguing on the eyes. I’d much rather watch a film on a screen. And with other people.

 

[TopCat]

Better than life...

 

[elbows]

There are parallels to stuff currently labelled 'the Metaverse' too. The corporate propaganda and hype about the Metaverse is tedious and shit, and the timescales are uncertain with decades overall required to get it to where it needs to be (including many years already spent eg since the second life days), but the big entities cant afford to completely ignore it at this stage either. They can afford to bet on it, and cannot afford not to. And peoples opinions on its chances of success cant be treated as reliable, especially as generational differences in attitudes and habits will likely play a part.

 

[8ball]

Facebook has got itself in a right mess over the Metaverse nonsense.
Throwing good money after bad because their main offering is beginning to sag imo.

One thing they have really helped with is the social angle, though - being able to jump into a game or other app with your mates was a lot harder before they stuck their oar in.

Agree with Magnus about films not being there yet, at least on the apps you can watch with others. The Amazon Prime app isn't bad.

With the Quest (Facebook's £300 headset), aside from the games there are some nice experimental things like plays with live actors where the audience can take part, and self-help groups (fireside chats and stuff), and meditation apps which I've found much more accessible than other guided meditations and bring on some quite trippy and buzzy feelings. Also, poker is fun - sitting in King Arthur's court or other settings, being able to talk to people, actually pick up chips and handle cards and stuff makes it a lot more fun than regular online poker.

It's a nice entry point and the Metaverse nonsense doesn't impinge on anything - at the moment it's just a few crappy apps you can take or leave.

Apple is taking quite a big gamble because their headset is going to be way more expensive than the current most popular standalone kit.

The current rumour is 10 times as much.

You could build a pretty beefy PC and network it to a Quest for that kind of money, so it will have to be something special.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Facebook has got itself in a right mess over the Metaverse nonsense.
Throwing good money after bad because their main offering is beginning to sag imo.

One thing they have really helped with is the social angle, though - being able to jump into a game or other app with your mates was a lot harder before they stuck their oar in.

Agree with Magnus about films not being there yet, at least on the apps you can watch with others. The Amazon Prime app isn't bad.

With the Quest (Facebook's £300 headset), aside from the games there are some nice experimental things like plays with live actors where the audience can take part, and self-help groups (fireside chats and stuff), and meditation apps which I've found much more accessible than other guided meditations and bring on some quite trippy and buzzy feelings. Also, poker is fun - sitting in King Arthur's court or other settings, being able to talk to people, actually pick up chips and handle cards and stuff makes it a lot more fun than regular online poker.

It's a nice entry point and the Metaverse nonsense doesn't impinge on anything - at the moment it's just a few crappy apps you can take or leave.

Apple is taking quite a big gamble because their headset is going to be way more expensive than the current most popular standalone kit.

The current rumour is 10 times as much.

You could build a pretty beefy PC and network it to a Quest for that kind of money, so it will have to be something special.

Poker with other people (represented by avatars) is pretty fun. And yeah, I quite liked some of the story telling stuff where you’re placed inside the action. That’s where it’s strongest I think.

 

[elbows]

The current rumour is 10 times as much.

You could build a pretty beefy PC and network it to a Quest for that kind of money, so it will have to be something special.

Because that version wont be supposed to be massively mainstream with an insane number of sales. It will probably be aimed at developers and early adopters and those who are happy to pay the very highest of Apple premiums. Then assuming they get enough aspects right and that developers make enough compelling content for it, over time they will stick the platform into other devices at various different price points, some of which may actually be attempting to compete with the likes of the Quest. There will still be an Apple premium attached to those other devices, but not as absurd a one as the initial device sounds like it will come with.

 

[skyscraper101]

Especially if they have some of the rights.

Your favourite band is playing in Brazil. Pay a fiver, slip on your headset and be at the gig itself. Instead of playing to 30,000 people you're playing to 1 billion people.

Kerching.

And presumably select from numerous vantage points too. I'm all for it.

 

[8ball]

Because that version wont be supposed to be massively mainstream with an insane number of sales. It will probably be aimed at developers and early adopters and those who are happy to pay the very highest of Apple premiums. Then assuming they get enough aspects right and that developers make enough compelling content for it, over time they will stick the platform into other devices at various different price points, some of which may actually be attempting to compete with the likes of the Quest. There will still be an Apple premium attached to those other devices, but not as absurd a one as the initial device sounds like it will come with.

Initial leaks are actually that the headset is aimed at gaming and entertainment, with most of the AR functionality coming onstream later (so that element is seemingly v much in Dev).
Will have to see how price points move, but yeah, this isn't a mass market product at this stage clearly.

There are openXR protocols which are making a lot of content much less platform specific, so there should be plenty of stuff to play with off the bat.

 

[kabbes]

I’ll “be at the gig” in the same way that listening to music on my hi-fi is like being at a live performance, i.e. not at all.

 

[8ball]

And presumably select from numerous vantage points too. I'm all for it.

Yeah, you can hop between cameras, including ones on stage.

 

[8ball]

It’ll “be at the gig” in the same way that listening to music on my hi-fi is like being at a live performance, i.e. not at all.

Basically a 3d version of watching a gig on the telly, though you can have other VR users with you.

 

[kabbes]

Basically a 3d version of watching a gig on the telly, though you can have other VR users with you.

Yeah. Watching a gig on the telly is nothing like being at the gig. I actually find watching a gig on the telly really boring.

 

[8ball]

Yeah. Watching a gig on the telly is nothing like being at the gig. I actually find watching a gig on the telly really boring.

I haven't found things like gigs terribly compelling so far with VR. I don't think it's a major selling point.

 

[skyscraper101]

The unveiling will be on June 5th

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

Get your £3 grand ready

 

[elbows]

Some insider reports suggest there are misgivings about this device within the company, so I've further downgraded my expectations. I was already expecting it to be a bit clunky with a silly price, not aimed at the mass market, but for it to get some traction going it needs a killer app or at least some features which can inspire developers to make killer apps for it eventually. Maybe that could still happen, but I havent heard anything in particular that suggests they've pulled that off at this stage.

 

[kabbes]

This is an excellent documentary on why the whole VR metaverse thing is dead on birth



In short: there is no use case. Anything we want to do over the Internet is better done over the Internet, using flat websites. There’s no advantage to creating a virtual physical space

 

[skyscraper101]

I'm sure it'll be very Gen 1, highly unaffordable for most people, and written off as a solution looking for a problem.

But I do hope it will have learned some the lessons from meta in how not to spunk a load of money on cartoon worlds, and develop some actual meaningful use cases, especially for business, creatives and socializing and viewing content. And hopefully over time it will become more affordable and mainstream.

 

[Santino]

At the moment it feels like something people could spend 50 years trying to make work and failing, like 3D films and tv.

 

[AverageJoe]

This is an excellent documentary on why the whole VR metaverse thing is dead on birth



In short: there is no use case. Anything we want to do over the Internet is better done over the Internet, using flat websites. There’s no advantage to creating a virtual physical space

I'm not sure I agree.

I can think of at least one very useable aspect and have even brought a couple of domain names. Obvs I don't want to share it as this is potentially emerging technology and space.

And it might work and it might not, but a lot of technology takes a while to become sustainable.

 

[AverageJoe]

It's also potentially viable to speculate and buy some cheap virtual real estate in the metaverse in the popular regions and hold onto them...

 

[editor]

Anything that involves people strapping on headsets to go crashing around into furniture is doomed to failure.

 

[AverageJoe]

Anything that involves people strapping on headsets to go crashing around into furniture is doomed to failure.

Maybe, but what if you were sitting down?

 

[AverageJoe]

There's a new advert for Meta on TV at the moment.

These aren't commercial opportunities, but they do show how the Metaverse could be used.

 

[AverageJoe]

I'd like to point out that at the moment I'm not an advocate for the Metaverse, but I'm not just discounting it out of hand.

 

[editor]

Maybe, but what if you were sitting down?

Don't you think it would be weird if the only way you can traverse a 3D environment is by being be stuck in a chair?

 

[AverageJoe]

Don't you think it would be weird if the only way you can traverse a 3D environment is by being be stuck in a chair?

Not everyone is able bodied. Or able to travel easily to a different country. VR could make this possible.

But I agree, there's a lot of angles to look at