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Apple's Unusual Headset Design Has Led to Unprecedented Production Challenges
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Cool, but I have only 1 question.. where does the motherboard with double (and hot) M2 chips fit inside of all of this?
Flop is my bet but I wish it well. I just don’t think anyone wants the metaverse.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
I didn't say that. Ming Chi does add credibility to his guesses by having the relationship with the supply chain players. That's probably why he- unlike you or me- gets PAID for offering Apple insights.
What I did say is that while he and Gurman can get their prognostications right, they also get some wrong. Neither have flawless track records.
And your list was only a list of negatives, ignoring anything that they they have offered as positives about Goggles. That shows your own bias on this topic, reinforced by cherry picking only what supports that bias from their many guesses, not all of which are the doom & gloom implied by your list.
I'll fully grant you that even at 6+ years of development without money or talent limitations like many startups, that Apple could roll out one pile of _____ in this thing. But that seems unlikely. When was the last time Apple spent 6+ years developing anything only to roll out a complete dog?
So while I can appreciate you imagining something towards the worst and being drawn only to supporting "facts" in line with your view, another person could do the opposite: imagine a very positive new Apple product and then only notice very positive supporting facts from those same players and others. And they would be no more wrong or right than you... until we all see what is actually is... what it actually can do... how much it actually costs, etc.
Presumably next week, most of the guessing, imagination, speculation, etc evaporates and we can actually see a brand new product creation from Apple. I suspect many views about this thing will magically transform once reality replaces rampant speculation. Whether that's towards the positive or negative is to be determined.
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Except that computers were already in major use in industry, business, and science at the time, which isn’t remotely similarly the case for VR headsets.
Somewhat major use. They were still a small niche back then, but I will agree that they first appeared in businesses and industry with practical usecases. Still ridiculed even in business, but it was easier to refute. What I should have said is home PCs. It was harder to explain why an average person would need a PC rather than an industry professional.
The falsehood is believing that the Macintosh wasn't seen as a waste of time. It was. This is documented. Anyone saying otherwise is a peddler of falsehoods.
I have. No interest in Apple’s (or anyone else’s) face toy. Sorry.
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Good luck with that. It’s not a Blue Ocean.
Then document it and stop posturing like you’re some kind of expert.
Apple never makes markets. They enter markets that already exist. Just another reason this product is barreling towards a fail.
I can make lists too 😎 I’ll keep mine short
- several of these things were true for the original iPhone (competitors struggling with market penetration [beyond a specific market, can’t imagine many 13 year olds had BlackBerrys/Treos the way they have iPhones now], absurdly high price [anyone else remember when they gave original buyers $200 back?], everyone doubting market penetration and success [same with pretty much every new product category since the iPod)
- no one is expecting this to be the next iPhone at this point, it’ll likely be more like the AW/AirPods, an iterative product that gets better and sees more adoption with time
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Meanwhile there are millions paying almost $3K one time for a Peloton bike to then stare at a relatively small screen to simulate riding that bike all around the world. Imagine the Peloton bike with the locations wrapped all around the rider. Look left, look right, look up or down as if you are doing that exercise "there."
While that may not be you, there are MILLIONS paying for that kind of exercise right now. This could take that to a much more realistic level. And Apple could take a bite of that slice of that market by "not being first but doing it best" as just ONE application of Goggles. Or the Pelotons in that space evolve their services to add VR experiences and Apple simply enjoys a 30% cut of those subscriptions seeking more immersion than they can get staring at a flat 2D screen mounted on the front of the bike.
This product will NOT be for everyone. Everyone doesn't have iPhone... or a TV... or a couch. It only needs to find a big enough audience to make it another good product from Apple.
I don't own an iPhone. Apple doesn't suffer from me doing iPhone-like activities on iPad mini with buds for calls. They don't need people who see absolutely nothing in this product to be convinced to buy it. They only need some of those who are able to see something here to buy.
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True, but everyone I've gotten to try my Quest 2 (both PCVR and standalone) is mind-blown and wants their own. I think Apple takes a risk with the market immaturity but I think will successfully use their reputation and legendary marketing genius to push this forward. If you've used a fully inside out 6DOF VR headset in the last couple years, you know the immense potential and obviousness of the tech as a way forward - it's just waiting for a big fish like Apple to do it right. I love my Quest for the value (and there's 20 million of them out there) but Meta IMO bungled their whole game with the lame insistence on their approach to the "metaverse" and their poorly concealed motive to attempt to control the entire space to harvest user data as per their Facebook approach. A steadier, long game strategy and god-tier marketing prowess has huge potential to push the tech to mainstream.
It'll take a few years for it to catch and become affordable to the iPhone-level mass market, but their presence in the space is enough to start the wildfire.
The amount of engineering that went into this product is astonishing. It would be a real tragedy if this product failed and there is an absolute chance it will fail spectacularly.
lmao. You sound like the iPhone doubters pre-2007, and the iPod doubters before that. It's not a toy or a fad, and huffing and puffing and refusing to see the wide ranging benefit in a new technology is simply hilarious.
You‘ll be waiting quite a while, I guess. Apple seems to have prioritized wear comfort (lightness, mostly), which sounds like the right call to me. To integrate the battery (powering a pretty high-end wearable computer, by the sound of it) will not be easy.
Nowhere near 1.000, though.
Exactly. Greatness hits a target no-one else can hit. Genius hits a target no-one else can see. That is why Jobs was a genius (i.e. visionary). I guess we‘ll see on monday how much of that he was able to ingrain into Apple‘s DNA.
Right now I‘m psyched, if only because it is so incredibly rare for Apple to introduce a completely new product/platform. But I can also imagine to be thoroughly disappointed. The Watch, much as I love mine, was a minor project compared to this, and also Jony Ive‘s last important new design. From here on out it‘s all New Apple. Exciting, but also a little scary.
With current battery technology and possibly battery technology for years to come I just don't think there is any other way to do it. Unless they make the headset heavy and bulky you just can't fit a large battery in it. That would make it more uncomfortable then having a power cord down to a remote power source. This thing is just going to be too power hungry to do it any other way and have decent run-time.
I don't see how there will be much interest in this product considering the price and limited places to use (unless you really want to walk around in public with this device strapped to your head looking like a doofus), but it's a new Apple product so they'll probably sell every one they can make (production will likely be limited) even at $3,000 a pop.
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20 million Quest devices alone in the wild - the market is plenty big. Your insistence on this being a nonexistent market for toys is flat out wrong. Have some imagination.
TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️
Suspended
What if this Apple AR/VR headset ends up like AirPower?
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Ask any typesetter from the period how they felt about the Mac for "desktop publishing"? (...it was a waste of time.)
That's what's most exciting here, this is the first time Apple will be truly attempting something huge without any direct Jobs input. They have massive and legendary reputation for pulling off paradigm shifts in existing product categories, but next week will show whether they can repeat that success without SJ.
What if this Apple AR/VR headset ends up like AirPower?
AirPower: Is Apple's Work on Multi-Device Wireless Charging Solutions Continuing?
Apple in 2017 introduced the AirPower as a flat charging bed capable of charging an iPhone, AirPods, and Apple Watch all at once, but technical...
Apple Officially Cancels AirPower
Apple today canceled AirPower, the charging mat that it first announced in 2017, because of an inability to meet its high standards for hardware,...
What if it ends up like the Mac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV? The level of R&D between a charger and an entire mixed reality facial computing interface is much different, and the number of times Apple has dropped the ball on novel computing platforms/products is very small. They can afford to gamble on a handful of accessories here and there.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
What if this Apple AR/VR headset ends up like AirPower?
AirPower: Is Apple's Work on Multi-Device Wireless Charging Solutions Continuing?
Apple in 2017 introduced the AirPower as a flat charging bed capable of charging an iPhone, AirPods, and Apple Watch all at once, but technical...
Apple Officially Cancels AirPower
Apple today canceled AirPower, the charging mat that it first announced in 2017, because of an inability to meet its high standards for hardware,...
What if it ends up like iPad?
In a post like that, you show a personal bias: assume failure, so post an example of failure. Someone else could do the opposite.
It may flop. It may be the next iPad. It could be the next iPhone. Or the socks. None of us know until we see what it is, what it can do, what it costs, etc... and then have some time to process whatever truly new it brings to the table.
Even AFTER iPod was presented by Apple, many around here ripped it to shreds: too expensive, why would anyone want, why is Apple getting away from their core strengths, blah-blah-blah. We know how that collective "expertise" proved out.
There was overwhelming contempt by just about everyone around here towards phablet-sized phones BEFORE Apple went there. "One handed use", "pants with bigger pockets", "fragmentation", "man purses", etc. And then Apple revealed their phablet and just about ALL of that evaporated almost over night. Now "we" somewhat ridicule the smaller iPhones that "nobody wants to buy." And I'm still watching for all those man purses and bigger pockets.
History shows how this generally goes. We hate just about anything and everything until Apple rolls out their cut at something. Then it seems to flip to "shut up and take my money" and "how did we ever get by without". Maybe this will be the exception to that regularly, repeating history... or not. We'll see in the coming days & weeks.
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