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Apple Focusing on Sports, Gaming, and Fitness Apps for AR/VR Headset

Unregistered 4U said:
Apple wouldn’t, third party companies like Airbus or Boeing or some airline would. The quicker they can get a new mechanic to be useful, the quicker the turnaround on routine daily maintenance and the longer the planes are in the sky making money. There’s a huge profit motive for the company that can sort this out and I would guess that relevant parties have access to prototype hardware.
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However they already have existing AR systems, with known SDKs. And I can't see Apple opening their OS to a level the current products do.

The exception would be if Apple has an AMAZING on-head development environment, that makes creating AR/VR applications far easier than it currently is. Something as utterly transformative as the Macintosh's GUI and Mouse were to essentially every industry.

But again, it feels like they're gonna miss the window. They didn't snap up Unity Technologies when their stock tanked, to bring them fully in-house (and all those mobile game devs on their AppStore). Which would have given Apple a division focused on 3D (plus AR/VR) application development.

In the mean time open options are getting ready to take space while Apple dithers. Engines like Godot are positioned to jump to Android power headsets. Headsets priced well under even the lowest rumored estimates for Apple's headset. They just need a serious contributing partner to help get the AR editing interfaces built.
 
poematik13 said:
I've been involved in VR circles mainly in experimental animation and indie gaming since 2015

It's a niche, always will be. Alyx was and still is the only "killer app" and it's tied to one aging hardware platform

Theres legitimate professional usecases for it like in hospice care and burn victims, 360 degree porn, or for architectural visualization. But as a mainstream social media-based consumer device, lol. It's not happening. And if it does, it'll plateau hard like the iPad. AR has a better chance at surviving and being innovative, but once again, nobody wants to strap a stupid box to their face.

Like i said the next big thing, like iphone-tier world changing thing, is AI content and Apple better have plans for that
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Sadly apples plans for that is probably replacing google with bing. The past years many have said foundations is apples biggest problem. No essential services or software.

iTunes was that foundation that made iPhone so successful and hard to kill. Along with promising things like Siri. Touch id. Face ID.
 
SFjohn said:
Well, with AR/VR glasses aircraft mechanics could check to see the exact specifications for any particular aircraft and with the cameras on the headset they might be able to detect wear & tear that’s not quite yet visible and know the exact details on any given part, how much torque this particular bolt require, etc. For medical students I can imagine being able to virtually dissect human bodies with all the extra information on what the body parts are, examining different diseases. It could be an incredible learning tool. Entertainment isn’t the best use of Apple’s headset IMHO. 😵‍💫
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And surgeons have been using AR in complex procedures for a few years now.
 
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Sports, gaming, fitness... If this is the target market, then the price should be reasonably low. Hardly any parent will by their kids a $2000 VR Gear when an 85" TV can be purchased for 1/2 the price.

It may be reasonable if it stays below $400.00.
About 7 more weeks to wait...
 
4odomi said:
If it focuses on gaming only, it will fail for sure.
I personally think, there will be huge waiting time, because there will be millions who want the first new Apple product in 10 years
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A focus on gaming only would be really short-sighted. It's important to have, but there is so much more VR could be used for in the realms of education, exploration, medicine, engineering, and others where VR is glaringly absent right now. Sports is a reasonable focus for broader appeal, but again it's incredibly narrow focus for a device that could have the potential for so much more.
 
Can't say that a focus on sports interests me at all, unless I can play quidditch or pitz in VR.
 
cardfan said:
Seriously. Apple is designing a Books app for this. Of all the software they could do. They’re focused on reading with a headset on.
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Actually there is a very good industrial case use for this: technicians, surgeons, airmen -- a whole cohort of professionals who need access to deep knowledge bases and manuals while using their hands.

If you're looking at a product and asking what problem does it solve, this is a huge and utterly valid market.

The consumer aspects may be cloudy still, but the professional ones are there, and a good place for Apple to cut its teeth on, regarding a complex interface with wide implications when perfected.

Think back to non-linear editors: First came Avid for a few hundred broadcast professionals, now even your grandma has Final Cut for her gardening YouTube channel.
 
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Very interesting tech, and hopefully it will work well. If so it will have a bevy of technologies other companies keep trying to add to their HMDs but mostly failing. Main point of concern for me remains the FOV. I saw somewhere that Apple's device has an FOV of around 120degrees. I guess we will know soon enough if that is accurate. If so, it is small enough to be extremely distracting for many users. It's one of the major remaining hurdles for VR. IF accurate, that will mean that Apple is trying to compete (in terms of price) with the few companies who ARE actively addressing the FOV issue. That would be a pretty big oversight on Apple's part.
 
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MacRumors said:


Apple is preparing to unveil its AR/VR "mixed" reality headset at WWDC in June, and the company is working to create appealing app experiences to encourage people to adopt the device. Apple is working on dedicated sports, gaming, wellness, and collaboration apps for the device, reports Bloomberg.


apple-ar-headset-concept-1.jpeg


Concept render by Ian Zelbo​

Apple is planning to adapt iPad apps for the headset, and users will be able to access existing App Store content through the 3D interface of the device. Apple-designed apps such as Safari, Calendar, Contacts, Home, Files, Messages, Notes, Photos, Music, Reminders, and other built-in apps will be optimized for the device. Multiple apps will be able to be run at one time, and there will be a geolocation aspect for swapping between apps when the user is in different rooms.

A Fitness+ app will allow users to exercise while watching the Fitness+ instructor in a virtual reality setting, and there will be a Health app for guiding users through meditations with graphics, sounds, and voice-overs. With Apple's deeper push into sports, there will be a focus on immersive viewing experiences for MLB and MLS content, plus there will be a dedicated TV app for watching videos in virtual reality environments.

There is a dedicated FaceTime experience that will use Memoji-like avatars and virtual meeting rooms, and Apple is designing a Books app for reading in virtual reality. A Camera app will be able to take images from the headset's cameras, and a version of Freeform will be adapted to a 3D interface for working on collaborative projects with others.

Apple has been working with a select number of gaming developers to help them update their existing content for mixed reality, and Apple will also have a robust set of tools available for creating AR/VR experiences.

The AR/VR headset is expected to be priced at around $3,000, and Apple is not planning for it to sell well to begin with. In fact, the company is expecting sales of approximately one million units in the first year, which is low for an Apple device.

Apple employees have expressed concerns about the usefulness of the headset given its price point. Some have questioned whether the device is a is a "solution in search of a problem" and not "driven by the same clarity" as other Apple devices.

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in early April that the AR/VR headset is the "last hope" for persuading investors that AR/VR devices will become the "next star product in consumer electronics." Other devices from companies like Meta have lacked appealing software, and this is a major hurdle that Apple will need to overcome.

To get people to purchase the mixed reality headset, Apple will need to convince users that the software experiences are worth it. That will require compelling first-party experiences as well as innovative third-party apps from developers.

Article Link: Apple Focusing on Sports, Gaming, and Fitness Apps for AR/VR Headset
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If this had a way of keeping sweat out of my eyes, and cost less than $1,000, I MIGHT consider it if worked with virtual reality bicycle riding on my smart trainer. But otherwise - why are you going to wear something tightly fitting to your face while sweating up a storm?
 
For Apple customers wanting to improve their access to fitness apps, typical purchases might include the Apple Watch and Apple Fitness+ subscription. Is someone going to spend $3000 on an Apple AR/VR Headset for the sake of "fitness" instead of putting that money towards a Peloton?

Apple Watch Series 8​

From $399

Apple Fitness+​

$10.99/month or $79.99 annually.

At this point, it becomes a choice of:

Peloton Bike+​

Starting at $2,495

or

Apple AR/VR Headset​

Around $3,000
 
If Infuse comes up with a Theater-like experience to watch movies in VR, like SkyBox in Quest 2, I'm all in.
 
rorschach said:
This isn’t really a consumer product. It’s essentially a developer transition kit (a la the Apple Silicon Mac mini at WWDC 2020). And honestly that’s how they need to frame it. They’re going to get terrible press if they market it as a “real” product.

The real product is going to be the lightweight glasses, but that won’t be for a few years, so this is basically to get developers started building AR/VR versions of apps.
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I wish you quoted the transition kit Mac Pro that had the Intel Chip in it. Since you didn’t, now I feel old.
 
A VR headset you can play sports in, it'll make Occulus Rift and any other VR headset yet look like cumbersome toys in comparison.
 
257Loner said:
For Apple customers wanting to improve their access to fitness apps, typical purchases might include the Apple Watch and Apple Fitness+ subscription. Is someone going to spend $3000 on an Apple AR/VR Headset for the sake of "fitness" instead of putting that money towards a Peloton?

Apple Watch Series 8​

From $399

Apple Fitness+​

$10.99/month or $79.99 annually.

At this point, it becomes a choice of:

Peloton Bike+​

Starting at $2,495

or

Apple AR/VR Headset​

Around $3,000
Click to expand...
Now combine both cycling gear and VR and you have a killer platform
 
I just want Apple Glass AR. I have PCVR and I love it, I don't need an overpriced version from Apple.
 
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