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AdamJames

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 5, 2007
11
2
Hypo:

You run Apple and you’re about to announce your super cool new Reality Pro HMD, a head mounted display with eye-tracking, pass-though AR and a very neat and totally unique front facing display.

Let’s say you plan to ship the new product in January 2023. When would you preview the new product with the public? Sept, October, November?

Let’s say you decide to announce in October. Would you announce before or after Meta announces the Quest Pro (Project Cambria) at their Connect event?

Asking for a friend.
 
I think Apple could be concerned about details leaking a good amount of time before the release date. Instead of the information being provided by leakers, they may prefer to provide it themselves, even if customers become aware of the details of the product earlier than they would like. On the other hand, Apple might be good at keeping secrets!
 
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If I were Apple I'd give it at least 6 months and also release developer kits (like the Apple Silicon DTKs) for devs to port existing VR products onto Reality OS.

The iPad got a 3 month window and the watch a 7 month window and neither of them are anywhere near as complicated a project to re-engineer for a completely novel product with totally new and bespoke input methods and use cases.

So if it was being released in January 2023 I'd have already announced it at WWDC.

But my name isn't Tim Cook and I'm unfortunately not a Billionaire.
 
If I were Apple I'd give it at least 6 months and also release developer kits (like the Apple Silicon DTKs) for devs to port existing VR products onto Reality OS.

The iPad got a 3 month window and the watch a 7 month window and neither of them are anywhere near as complicated a project to re-engineer for a completely novel product with totally new and bespoke input methods and use cases.

So if it was being released in January 2023 I'd have already announced it at WWDC.

But my name isn't Tim Cook and I'm unfortunately not a Billionaire.
I thought the same way 100% and was bummed it didn’t happen at WWDC. But then I started thinking about the announcement as basically a commercial for a product, then maybe it’s better to play that “commercial” during a Super Bowl (September iPhone event) rather than a playoff game (WWDC) because the audience is probably 5X bigger?
 
Interesting thought about the Super Bowl. The infinitely parodied 1984 ad was during the Super Bowl and although anything Apple does these days will generate buzz wherever they announce it, a sort of vague Think Different type ad that focus's on experience could work well. Maybe not even show the product but elude to it, with an actual announcement at WWDC 2023 and a fall 2023 release.

A lot of people, even tech users like us on the MR forums are dead-set against VR (the goofy ski goggle concept Render doesn't help) and need an enormous amount of convincing to strap tech on their faces. a long launch window could help?
 
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Hypo:

...

Asking for a friend.
Just assume that the product will be announced in early 2023. That way devs have some time up to WWDC and the annual events in the fall, when it will be shipping. That's what I think, at least.
 
If I’d run Apple I wouldn’t announce this ridiculous product in the first place. Nobody wants to wear something if they don’t need to. Tim Cook said it himself years ago. Why would I want to wear some glasses or a headset? I don’t want anything on my head. It will flop so hard, that Tim Cook will retire just months after the announcement.
 
If I’d run Apple I wouldn’t announce this ridiculous product in the first place. Nobody wants to wear something if they don’t need to. Tim Cook said it himself years ago. Why would I want to wear some glasses or a headset? I don’t want anything on my head. It will flop so hard, that Tim Cook will retire just months after the announcement.
- You already know it's a ridiculous product? Nice to have such a crystal ball.
- You never wear sunglasses for instance? Okay, and you can't be short-sighted as well.
- Why should Tim Cook retire months after the announcement? Because the next quarterly financials will break records once again? Sheesh.
 
- You already know it's a ridiculous product? Nice to have such a crystal ball.
- You never wear sunglasses for instance? Okay, and you can't be short-sighted as well.
- Why should Tim Cook retire months after the announcement? Because the next quarterly financials will break records once again? Sheesh.
I know it will flop because all other headsets/glasses failed and failed for a good reason. Why would it be different with Apple? How much better it needs to be that people would want wearing it all the time? Tim Cook will retire because he already said that he won’t run Apple in ten 10 years and there’s talk that the glasses or the Apple car project will be his last. He won’t probably retire just months after the product launch but he will not long after.
 
The economic environment is 💩 anyway because uncontrolled conniving scheming oligarchs are sucking up everything for themselves and making life hard and expensive for so many so it is impossible to tell if any product will succeed next year.
 
Since it's targeted primarily at developers to make their followup devices better values with more software available, doesn't really matter for Apple. Really WWDC would be the best time/place to announce it because of that.
 
I know it will flop because all other headsets/glasses failed and failed for a good reason. Why would it be different with Apple? How much better it needs to be that people would want wearing it all the time? Tim Cook will retire because he already said that he won’t run Apple in ten 10 years and there’s talk that the glasses or the Apple car project will be his last. He won’t probably retire just months after the product launch but he will not long after.
Right now to my knowledge there has only ever been one single AR device marketed and sold to consumers, the NReal Light, and that hasn't failed yet (in fact, most videos about are like "Wow, this is amazing! Needs more software that makes use of it..." so maybe developers will make it great before it becomes a flop...if NReal doesn't mess up)

And Apple's VR/AR headset isn't intended for people to "wear all the time", at most, it would be "wear whenever at home".
 
“Today the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially granted Apple a patent that relates to a possible future Mixed Reality Headset with back-to-back displays. The internal display allows the user to view mixed reality content whereas the external display may display viewable images that the public could view – including being able to see a virtual face of the HMD wearer.”

Patently Apple Link
 
February - March, spring refresh.
AR/VR Headset. + iPhone 14 refresh with USB-C and WIFI6E(6ghz).
 
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I would announce when we could comfortably have a 100% live event. This event will be just as important as the 2007 iPhone event. Back then, the iPhone was announced on January 9th and wasn’t released until June 29th. I’m guessing an announcement in January or February, and release before WWDC. Regardless, I would expect WWDC 2023 to be dominated by sessions on this product.
 
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