"Team, we need to move up the WWDC keynote by two weeks. Some guy on the internet is tired of reading rumors about our upcoming headset and wants to see it right now. Thanks." - Tim
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Kuo: Apple 'Well Prepared' for Headset Announcement Next Month
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
"Team, we need to move up the WWDC keynote by two weeks. Some guy on the internet is tired of reading rumors about our upcoming headset and wants to see it right now. Thanks." - Tim
Dual M2s? Maybe Apple will call it the new Mac Pro just to check off that box 😀
I have a theory on this one:
Apple has been deliberately fueling skeptical press coverage of the headset to lower expectations so that what Apple does unveil, which I believe will be a step better than what people have been anticipating, will wow people in a good way. If expectations are sky high, it's nearly impossible for any company to deliver something that delivers at that high of a bar. Lower them and then give something good, you exceed.
Now my second theory is that the $3,000 price is inaccurate and has been floating out there and repeated every day because Apple can generate more buzz and excitement by coming in lower, even if it's a tiny bit lower. $2,499 would sound like a good deal, right? Even $2,799 just reads better than $2,999/$3,000.
So ... the product will exceed what's on the market, advance the headset category by several steps and undercut price expectations. Toss that all together and you have (maybe) a winning product for now.
Apple has been deliberately fueling skeptical press coverage of the headset to lower expectations so that what Apple does unveil, which I believe will be a step better than what people have been anticipating, will wow people in a good way. If expectations are sky high, it's nearly impossible for any company to deliver something that delivers at that high of a bar. Lower them and then give something good, you exceed.
Now my second theory is that the $3,000 price is inaccurate and has been floating out there and repeated every day because Apple can generate more buzz and excitement by coming in lower, even if it's a tiny bit lower. $2,499 would sound like a good deal, right? Even $2,799 just reads better than $2,999/$3,000.
So ... the product will exceed what's on the market, advance the headset category by several steps and undercut price expectations. Toss that all together and you have (maybe) a winning product for now.
I still don't believe the $3000 price for a second.
How dare you brings facts into this?!
Well prepared, not overdone...like some of the goggles negativity on this site 🤭
Neither, you can hardly get me to wear my glasses and I spent 750€ on them.
Gives me Xbox Kinect vibes. Cool for a hot minute but that novelty wears off fast
Can just imagine iJustine physically wetting herself over it. Most of her videos read like an Apple checklist of things to say and fawn about in return for getting early access. She's just part of the marketing machine now. Same for the other usual YouTube suspects.
I am looking forward to the presentation about the upcoming headset and curious about the technology. However, I have absolutely NO interest in purchasing the product or even putting on any kind of headset at any time. I already wear progressive bifocals and have enough potential eyestrain to deal with already.
Reminds me a lot of pre-iPad and pre-Apple Watch comments. "Why would anyone need a giant iPhone" and "I can see the time on my phone"
But that is ultimately the obstacle you face when trying to release a product that redefines the category. Neither the iPhone/iPad or Apple Watch were true winners in the first generation. The iPhone was too expensive and too limited compared to blackberry/windows mobile - but the user experience was a whole new level. The iPad had no killer app, and really still doesn't 10 years later, but it. still found its stride. The Apple Watch was a mess at launch, trying to be both a disposable consumer tech product and a luxury watch at the same time. The UX/apps were terrible, and it eventually grew into the fitness focused device as it exists today.
I think the headset will launch with the same breadth of experiences, with a main focus on fitness and productivity at home. Also I suspect a big focus will be on the AR aspects, still being to interact with people/things in the real world without having to take the thing off.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
I actually speculated on this group demo "problem" in another thread. My own best idea for Apple to be able to demonstrate immersive VR to a group would be to rent out what are called Omnimax theaters across the country. These are domed screens (related but much different than IMAX) that fill the entire range of vision with imagery. If you don't know omnimax, think planetarium dome presentation.
While it wouldn't be exactly the same as having goggles on the viewers head, I'm not imagining another way to group demo this and somewhat approximate a goggles on experience. How do you demo an "all new" 3-dimentional UI on a 2-dimensional screen to a group? How do you help a group fully grasp that their eyes will not simply be fed imagery from front & center but from all around them (even in the periphery)?
One on one? Sure, just put the goggles on someone's head and have some kind of canned demonstration running. But the "big reveal" show at WWDC only offers- best I know- a big 2D screen. I don't see an obvious way to illustrate goggles immersion on a 2D screen. I don't envision a set of goggles hidden under everyones seat to be pulled out and put on when Apple is ready to demonstrate them. Perhaps a first-ever "intermission" where Apple staff pass out goggles to everyone there for a demonstration post intermission? (I don't see that happening but that would seem key to putting goggles in peoples hands only when Apple is ready for them to see them).
So that led me to thinking about "next comparable thing" for a group demo... which SEEMS (to me anyway) to be Omnimax screens... perhaps with some kind of Fathom "Special broadcast"-like stream on "big reveal" day so that a good number of interested people could see it live or in same day replay. Apple rents all Omnimax theaters and the demo is run on them to as many as those willing to watch it.
Yes, of course, there will be slick TV commercials, etc. that can be run on the HQ big screen. But it seems this product BEGS for a demo that simulates the big differences of it vs. everything else. And to get the group "splash" experience that Apple seems to love- why they do these coordinated product reveals- they (seem to) need a way to show "goggles on" to a group without actually having goggles on... basically a VR experience of a VR & AR experience.
I've seen no rumor of Omnimax at all. I'm just trying some "think different" imagination about HOW a group might better get a sense of the bigger differences of this product BEFORE one-on-one demos. TO me, it doesn't seem like a product that can really be fully conveyed on a 2D screen- be that the big one in Cupertino or the much smaller ones in our homes, offices or hands. Even the attendees sitting there live would be seeing whatever is to be shown on a 2D screen... until afterwards when some may get their 5 minutes with the actual thing. By then, a thousand stories will be published in the media... BEFORE anyone has actually got to really experience the unique differences of this vs. what they could watch on a 2D screen.
The challenge in how to group demo this vs. all past Apple reveals is substantial. If it is as rumored, this is not like any other product rollout... ever!
Last edited:
I don't think its unpopular at all. This isn't a device for the vast majority of customers but a niche appeal piece of tech like the Mac Pro, something for industry or higher education to mess with.
The multitude of 'I'm not buying that at that price' comments seem oblivious to this.
Can’t innovate anymore, my Apple Stereoscopic Simulator
I wonder the same, but Apple is a master at marketing and presentation. They will have had a LONG time to think about this very issue (after all these years of development rumors), and it's clearly an issue that has hindered other VR/AR producers. I'm preparing to be impressed by their innovations, not only in hardware/software but also in creative ways of being able to make me want whatever they're selling.
Same here. But people just LOVE clinging to that number so they can go up to the mountain top and proclaim it a FAIL for all the world to hear!
People who can't fathom what it will be used for need to grow an imagination.
I mean, Xbox Kinect is now Face ID, so...
Disagree with that. From what has been leaked from reliable sources Apple is aiming this as a consumer product. Maybe many years ago when this was still on the drawing board Apple thought people would be falling over themselves to buy a headset that in today's market has spectacularly failed with every other company that's tried.
For this to get any kind of traction and developer support it needs to sell in numbers that will make the developers massive investment pay off, or at least seem an attractive platform to make it worth their while.
Apple may have to sell the headsets at a loss at first just to get them out there, just like games console manufactures do and reap the rewards later. But Apple being Apple probably won't and will sell them at the rumoured $3000 price point. If so, it's dead on arrival.
That’s almost the same list the First iPhone had.
Get ready to see flailing crazy people at the Apple Store wearing this thing. Its gonna be so much fun! I am not gonna lie, I look forward to seeing it too, even though I have no intention to buy one. This is the delight of the surprise Apple is always talking about.
Apple might pull a surprise and the headset might actually cost half of that 3,000, again, planting that info. Just like people were thinking the Apple Watch was gonna cost 1,200 but ended up way below that. If its $1499, its actually more accessible to those with disposable income.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
While that one is easier to imagine, "use case", existing examples of much success, etc, it's actually a scarier Apple pursuit through my own lens. We're sweating $3K for a deluxe iMac Pro on our heads with many cameras, etc. Wait until we get a full whiff of what an Apple car will cost.
Beep beep... beep beep, yeah! 💰💰💰
They literally can't any more. All the new OS updates will have references to the headset. I mean, partially there were references since iOS 14, but if they had hoped to announce it this Spring, iOS 17 will have everything built-in.