Image: Marcus Kane, MIXED

We’re just days away from unveiling the legendary VR/AR headset. Apple’s new product that hits reality hard.

When the first VR headset caught the attention of tech enthusiasts in 2016, Apple CEO Cook had few good things to say about the new device. At a 2016 tech conference in Utah, he said, “I don’t think anyone thinks it’s acceptable to come in and sit here and be plugged into a computer — most people probably won’t.” said. Because we are all social people by nature. ”

The fairy tale of virtual reality isolation has been around for a long time, largely ignoring the social nature of many VR applications, especially popular multiplayer applications. However, face-computer isolation is clearly subjective and does not conform to trained social behavior. Either I’m not social because what I can’t see doesn’t exist, or I’m scared because I can’t see it.

Cook always believed the future was augmented reality, not virtual reality. That’s why the Cupertino tech giant created his own innovation arm during the immersion resurgence.

The goal is a lightweight, fashionable, everyday AR headset.

Physics Laughed When Apple Planned

Apple has quietly poured billions of dollars into development over the past seven years, with nothing but constant rumors. No one sees anything concrete. Notorious leakers like Garman and Kuo continue to fuel the flames. But “tech breaks” happen all the time. The presentation was delayed and should be next year, but this time it really is.

There are more and more indications that Apple’s XR headset unveiling on June 9, 2023, at Apple’s internal trade fair, the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), could really happen.

Wait, a Mixed Reality headset? Does that mean it’s not your everyday AR glasses? So just a VR headset with an AR passthrough? What happened to their supposed innovation?

“After initially setting its sights on lightweight augmented reality glasses, technical constraints, a desire to bring products to market, and internal disagreements led Apple to gradually move toward something more like an existing device. It took a long time,” Garman writes in the paper. Recent analysis on Bloomberg. The title of the article is “Apple’s new headset meets reality.

After all, Apple is just cooking with water

So rather than the big innovations that make social metaverse technology practical and fashionable for everyday use, it’s a VR headset with an AR pass-through reminiscent of ski goggles, power corded to an external battery worn on the waist. Appeared. The reason is to reduce weight and reduce heat generation.

I think this is clever and I often wonder why such a solution wasn’t used before, for example in the Quest 2 or Quest Pro. Cables are no excuse. Smartly routed along the back, the cables are barely noticeable. Also, batteries can be “hot-swapped” on the fly. The reduction in weight could indeed lead to a significant increase in comfort, which would be a step towards extending usage time, a key factor in the market penetration of this technology.

Apple – Surprise! “The design of this product is also a tacit acknowledgment that the company, like other companies making mixed reality headsets, has failed to solve some core technical problems. be.”

Instead, get an Apple headset that matches the previous XR glasses release. It’s a mixed reality headset like the Quest Pro and possibly the Vive XR Elite, but it certainly has various strengths and some weaknesses. However, it remains to be seen whether the competitors are better than the products they have released so far.

“They are good at this kind of thing.”

“It can be hard to launch a market, but you have to let Apple do it. is a quote I heard many times during the Apple bubble.

Apple got it right. They have built a perfect ecosystem that works together intuitively and seamlessly like no other. Apple hardware and software are designed for the best user experience. If anyone can do it, so can Apple.

The “Apologist” evocative mantra neglects one thing. Virtual and augmented reality aren’t just operating systems, they’re not just iPhones. These aren’t even new computers. It means that the rules and standards of PCs, notebooks and even smartphones apply to VR and AR. They are done only in very limited ways.

Virtual and augmented reality are entirely new media. New ways to interact and experience digital content. Of course, digital can also be immersively copied, similar to what is still happening in the so-called digital transformation. So you put a piece of paper or a newspaper into a PDF or ePaper and call it a digital transformation. Copy flat games into VR and call it virtual realization.

We know from experience that this does not work. Using a flat mobile app via a clunky data headset with a laser pointer is unconvincing. Skyrim and Fallout 4 became great in VR after the mod community refined their loveless VR copies with the right UI/UX updates. And the most successful VR games of the last few years are still designed and built natively for VR. It’s no surprise that Beat Saber is still the most successful VR game of all time.

Does Apple understand this?

Apple Reality: Customers Should Wear Headsets All Day

Now Apple wants to establish a new XR paradigm. VR/AR headsets do not come with VR controllers. Hand tracking is the new input method. I’m curious to see what magic Apple uses to make hand tracking so much better than Meta. Hand tracking on the Quest headset is already relatively good, but still not good enough for constant use, especially in applications.

With this and eye tracking, Apple hopes to convince about 900,000 people a year (up to 3 million initially) to buy the $3,000 XR headset. “Apple’s goal is ultimately that customers will wear the device all day long, playing games, surfing the web, composing email, FaceTime video calling, collaborating on apps, exercising, and even meditating,” Garman said. Let them replace their daily activities with this device,” he wrote.

Innovative Apple sounds exactly like every VR/AR startup of the last seven years. It’s the same slogan you hear from Meta at the annual VR Easter ‘Connect’. HTC once tried to go big with meditation and failed miserably. Microsoft still has a version of Minecraft on my living room table.

Again, the big question is “why?”

What does it take to be truly successful? It’s the answer to the question, “Why?”

So far, this is Apple’s basics, telling you why you should use your iPhone, iPad, or EarPods. This, coupled with fashion-driven elitism coupled with technologically advanced hardware, still creates and serves huge consumer demand. I’m quick to believe that Apple can and will make a great XR headset.

But can Apple also answer the mixed reality question of why should they use this amazing piece of technology? I hope so, but I doubt it. . Even if all the iPad apps are available on the headset, why use 2D apps on the XR headset when there is actually a much easier and better way to use them the traditional way? Is there?

The multi-monitor aspect is emerging. With a headset, you can theoretically do many things at once, have apps open, and Face Timing at the same time. Even if you only have one, it’s possible. – Physical screen.

Great as always (meta always tells a similar story). However, “features like functioning as an external Mac monitor and the ability to make multi-party video calls are not as advanced as the company originally intended, but we would like to improve.” No, but it has the same technical and content shortcomings as its competitors. Instead, Apple wants his XR headset to somehow work like the Apple Watch.

“It was very clear what the iPhone and iPad were going to do, but the clock was meandering all over the place,” said a person familiar with the product. “Headsets will be similar, but hopefully third-party apps will come to the rescue.”

An internal presentation reportedly suggested that people wear Apple XR headsets at parties in the physical world and interact with others via passthrough.

Well, good luck.

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