Post by account_disabled on Sept 12, 2023 10:28:45 GMT
The MR (Mixed Reality) headset Vision Pro, which Apple recently announced at WWDC 2023, was impressive in many ways, including its beautiful design, excellent technology, and the high productivity value of the videos shown by the device. However, the best achievement of the day was the presenters' efforts to avoid repeating past failures.
As usual, Apple isn't the first company to pioneer Phone Number List the MR market at least not in the broad sense, although the Vision Pro does break new ground in a few specific areas. Google, which attempted to implement AR (Augmented Reality) in 2013, eventually acknowledged the failure of the.
Glass project earlier this year. In the case of Facebook, which is desperately trying to make the metaverse a reality, only the CEO has become a laughing stock. While other companies, including HTC and HP, are clearly making money from virtual reality headsets, they have yet to enter the mainstream and have not made a convincing case that VR devices are cool technology used by cool people.
Apple is certainly aware of this history. It is also surprising that a lot of care was taken to avoid the pitfalls that tripped up previous competitors. For example, Google Glass users have been insulted and even physically attacked by passersby who object to non-consensual filming. So the Vision Pro presenters did their best to avoid evoking surveillance culture. The spatial video feature was described as having a user inside their own home filming a happy, cooperative family (although it was odd that the entire demo was indoors). Since Vision Pro shoots on an outdoor screen, it very carefully suggests that it cannot take video secretly.
The message is simple. Vision Pro is a sound product that cannot be used for illegal or evil purposes, and can see the wearer's eyes. That means everything is safe.
ⓒ Apple
At the other end is a VR headset for gamers. VR games are fun, but the funny side is that you may get distracted by other family members while playing, or you may find yourself in a different place when you stop playing. Every headset I've used so far has trapped me in a soap bubble, making the virtue of being 'all about immersion but not suitable for connecting to the outside world'. This in turn leads to skepticism from lonely, isolated geek users and the technology-agnostic sectors of the general public.
Targeting a relatively small group of hardcore gamers may work well for small businesses, but companies like Apple need headsets that appeal to all audiences. Ultimately, what Apple wants is for the Vision Pro to take the iPhone's place as the central platform. So Apple had to emphasize that the Vision Pro was different.
Vision Pro does not isolate users in a lonely vacuum. It's designed to let you FaceTime with all your smiling friends. It can detect when a person is approaching, remove the background screen, and show eyes through an external screen to welcome the other person. Most demonstrations took place within the context of a social group, proudly located in the living room rather than hidden away in a basement or bedroom. (But no matter what anyone says, the use case that struck me the most was the blessed moment on a crowded airplane, blocked out from the surroundings.) .
The FaceTime demonstration was also surprising in that it carefully distanced itself from the awkward and unattractive world of the metaverse. MR devices are generally devices that cover the user's face, so for good communication, the system must reproduce an artificial image of the user, and Vision OS's avatar was much closer to realism than the legless cartoon figure drawn by Meta. If everyone was using Vision Pro, video chatting in a virtual environment would be possible and desirable, but this demo took place in a normal room.
The presenters went on to reassure the audience that what you do with Vision Pro is just having friends and colleagues in your house, not some weird cartoon chat room, and that Apple is not one of those companies.
Learn from others' mistakes
The Vision Pro carries a lot more risk than other Apple products because it targets a market where it hasn't yet proven its worth. Can MR really become the ‘Next Big Thing’? For most people, the best answer is “maybe.” Smartphones won't rule the world forever, and someday another new platform will take their place.
However, the quality of the smartphone was clear from the start. It can be taken with you wherever you go, blends into your daily life without inconvenience, and is conceptually close enough to existing technology that even someone new to it can understand how it works. MR does not have these advantages and its hardware does not yet provide any appeal. The headset is clunky and heavy, and the battery life is short. Even the method of use is completely different from what we are used to.
ⓒ Foundry
All of this means that Apple currently faces an enormous challenge. Apple needs to make customers understand the entire concept of MR, not just convince them that a specific product is good. Another problem is that many potential customers are not familiar with MR. The bigger problem is that some people who are already familiar with MR technology do not like MR. Therefore, before full-scale sales, Apple must make up for the promotional losses suffered by previous companies.
As usual, Apple isn't the first company to pioneer Phone Number List the MR market at least not in the broad sense, although the Vision Pro does break new ground in a few specific areas. Google, which attempted to implement AR (Augmented Reality) in 2013, eventually acknowledged the failure of the.
Glass project earlier this year. In the case of Facebook, which is desperately trying to make the metaverse a reality, only the CEO has become a laughing stock. While other companies, including HTC and HP, are clearly making money from virtual reality headsets, they have yet to enter the mainstream and have not made a convincing case that VR devices are cool technology used by cool people.
Apple is certainly aware of this history. It is also surprising that a lot of care was taken to avoid the pitfalls that tripped up previous competitors. For example, Google Glass users have been insulted and even physically attacked by passersby who object to non-consensual filming. So the Vision Pro presenters did their best to avoid evoking surveillance culture. The spatial video feature was described as having a user inside their own home filming a happy, cooperative family (although it was odd that the entire demo was indoors). Since Vision Pro shoots on an outdoor screen, it very carefully suggests that it cannot take video secretly.
The message is simple. Vision Pro is a sound product that cannot be used for illegal or evil purposes, and can see the wearer's eyes. That means everything is safe.
ⓒ Apple
At the other end is a VR headset for gamers. VR games are fun, but the funny side is that you may get distracted by other family members while playing, or you may find yourself in a different place when you stop playing. Every headset I've used so far has trapped me in a soap bubble, making the virtue of being 'all about immersion but not suitable for connecting to the outside world'. This in turn leads to skepticism from lonely, isolated geek users and the technology-agnostic sectors of the general public.
Targeting a relatively small group of hardcore gamers may work well for small businesses, but companies like Apple need headsets that appeal to all audiences. Ultimately, what Apple wants is for the Vision Pro to take the iPhone's place as the central platform. So Apple had to emphasize that the Vision Pro was different.
Vision Pro does not isolate users in a lonely vacuum. It's designed to let you FaceTime with all your smiling friends. It can detect when a person is approaching, remove the background screen, and show eyes through an external screen to welcome the other person. Most demonstrations took place within the context of a social group, proudly located in the living room rather than hidden away in a basement or bedroom. (But no matter what anyone says, the use case that struck me the most was the blessed moment on a crowded airplane, blocked out from the surroundings.) .
The FaceTime demonstration was also surprising in that it carefully distanced itself from the awkward and unattractive world of the metaverse. MR devices are generally devices that cover the user's face, so for good communication, the system must reproduce an artificial image of the user, and Vision OS's avatar was much closer to realism than the legless cartoon figure drawn by Meta. If everyone was using Vision Pro, video chatting in a virtual environment would be possible and desirable, but this demo took place in a normal room.
The presenters went on to reassure the audience that what you do with Vision Pro is just having friends and colleagues in your house, not some weird cartoon chat room, and that Apple is not one of those companies.
Learn from others' mistakes
The Vision Pro carries a lot more risk than other Apple products because it targets a market where it hasn't yet proven its worth. Can MR really become the ‘Next Big Thing’? For most people, the best answer is “maybe.” Smartphones won't rule the world forever, and someday another new platform will take their place.
However, the quality of the smartphone was clear from the start. It can be taken with you wherever you go, blends into your daily life without inconvenience, and is conceptually close enough to existing technology that even someone new to it can understand how it works. MR does not have these advantages and its hardware does not yet provide any appeal. The headset is clunky and heavy, and the battery life is short. Even the method of use is completely different from what we are used to.
ⓒ Foundry
All of this means that Apple currently faces an enormous challenge. Apple needs to make customers understand the entire concept of MR, not just convince them that a specific product is good. Another problem is that many potential customers are not familiar with MR. The bigger problem is that some people who are already familiar with MR technology do not like MR. Therefore, before full-scale sales, Apple must make up for the promotional losses suffered by previous companies.