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's AR/VR Headset Announcement is 'Last Hope' for Persuading Investors It Will Be the Next 'Star Product'
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Apple isn’t a start up. Their stock is insanely well valued. They don’t need to persuade investors. Whether this product flops or soars will make little difference.
Basically the headline is dumb because the quote from Kuo is dumb.
Basically the headline is dumb because the quote from Kuo is dumb.
Never had any issues with Bluetooth on the first gen M1 MacBook Pro 😏To be honest when was the last time a first gen Apple product hadn't launched half baked? The first gen curse has always been a thing
- 1st gen iMac came with this meme of a mouse:
There's always growing pains when Apple releases a new product category, but they won't learn until they actually launch it, give a post mortem, then release a refresh shortly after that fixes those problems and make it a product people want. It's always 2nd Gen where they get their footing and when the product really kicks off.
- 1st gen iPod could only be used on macOS. Windows support didn't come until a year later
- 1st gen iPhone launched without copy+paste and without an app store, and used 2G which was slow as hell
- 1st gen Intel Macs were slow as hell and quickly replaced
- 1st gen iPad had no cameras
- 1st gen Apple Watch wasn't water resistant
- 1st gen AirPods couldn't use Siri through voice and also had high audio latency
- 1st gen HomePod was hilariously overpriced
- Apple Card launched without credit reporting, and it's application process was incredibly bad with hardly anyone being able to get the card
- 1st gen Apple Silicon Macs had bluetooth connectivity issues
Apple Reality will have it's problems no doubt, the lack of software, the absurd price tag, the lack of PCVR compatibility, but until the thing actually launches we won't know what will happen. Remember everyone thought the iPhone was gonna be a flop because it had no buttons and an absurd price tag being $500 (when most phones back then rarely passed $200) and despite that it roared off the shelves and a year later they released the iPhone 3G that slashed the price in half. Give it time.
(God damn I've become an Apple evangelist)
I was a sceptic until I played Alyx… incredible.
Indeed, VR/AR has some problems to overcome, with as main issues the price of admission, the insane computing power needed, and the clunky headset and controllers. Oh, and some people get sick from it 😅. Steam has Alyx, what will
Apple have?
I really hope this AR headset will not be mr. Cook’s Newton…
I'm excited about it. Everything has got to start somewhere. AR, VR, and MR (xR?) are all coming, and at some point there's going to need to be a product and platform for people to develop for it. Apple has proven many times in the past to take niche products and implement them in a way that brings them to the masses. They're usually not first to the game, but they have always ended up being pretty darn good (or excellent in my opinion). iPod, iPhone, iPad, AirPods, and that's just post-2000. Excited to see what the future brings.
If they were to launch a VR headset, it would be a failure, however they are launching an AR headset, which is a different ball game
Sadly he's starting to think that Apple consumers are idiots, with the dross Apple has launched in the past 12 months 😏
Seriously, I think there's a lot to this. I think Apple already dumped a lot of R&D money into this years ago, believing they were getting in on the ground floor of the next big thing. And the gamble didn't pay off. So now they've got to try to produce something to recoup some of the losses and justify the work on it. (If it sells at a "lukewarm" pace and allows certain niche markets to do something new/better with a Mac, it can be spun as a successful product.)
I've said it before and I still feel the same about it. IF this tech could finally be bundled into a pair of cool-looking sunglasses that didn't require a cord running to another battery pack or device you have to wear along with it? Then you've got something that can really sell. (Essentially, you're at a point where you're telling anyone who would consider buying a nice pair of regular sunglasses that they can buy this Apple pair instead and get all the augmented reality features like overlays floating in front of things. It would be like telling someone instead of wearing a regular watch, they could buy the "Apple watch" and get all these extra features besides telling the time.)
As long as it's a bulkier headset or pair of goggles that doesn't look or feel like something you'd gladly wear around all day in public? It's a non-starter.
Yes, Valve proved that VR has a lot of potential just from games alone. Unfortunately Apple is... always the most incompetent when it comes to gaming, to say the least.
I get excited about most new tech, especially from Apple.
I’m not even excited a little bit about this crap.
I’m not even excited a little bit about this crap.
Another use case would be accessibility to museums of the world. Museums could map their building and collections into a decent 3D rendering and people with limited means or mobility could visit these resources from the comfort of their living room. This is not the first time this has been proposed, but definitely a great use-case for access. I haven't played in VR, but some friends who would want to experience it complain about vertigo. I would hate to buy into a VR-only platform, only to find I get sick to my stomach. An AR functionality or an "infinite" display technology wrapped around my head definitely would add more value to the purchase. No, I don't need dinosaurs running through my living room, but I guess it could be amusing.
If I am especially frugal, I might be curious to leverage vertigo in the form of a virtual amusement park with crazy roller-coasters; again, not the first time anyone has suggested this, but this sure would beat the wait lines in amusement parks and maybe way more fun assuming I don't need to feel g-forces!
If I am especially frugal, I might be curious to leverage vertigo in the form of a virtual amusement park with crazy roller-coasters; again, not the first time anyone has suggested this, but this sure would beat the wait lines in amusement parks and maybe way more fun assuming I don't need to feel g-forces!
Ugh just stick to the products already available. Apple, you are already stretched too thin. When you put focus on Macs, like FINALLY Macs are good again, iPhones and watches and everything else is just "meh". Macs were quite horrible from 2016-2021. Now I think I know why M2 was just "meh", why we didn't get M2 across the board, hello M2 Mac Studio? M2 iMac? It's because Apple can't focus on more than one thing at a time. All this AR/VR talk..
You get excited about mainstream/mature tech like the next iPhone or iMac. Early adopter tech is naturally only going to be for early adopters.
I’m sure someone else has said it already but this headset seems a LOT like it’s going to be Tim Cook’s Newton. If I were him I’d cancel it right now and redirect efforts into fixing the increasingly broken software side of the whole Apple eco system.
Not to mention the CAR! I mean, come on now. Focusing on hardware projects is fine, but when it comes at the detriment of the rest of the Apple ecosystem it just doesn’t make sense. Apple needs a more aggressive software advocate pushing Cook to table some of his hardware dreams.
It's part of the problem I have with publicly traded companies. Shareholders don't want what you and I want. They want THE NEXT BEST THING!!! So we are forced to deal with bad products so they can focus on cars and AR/VR headsets.
My theory is the market may have *seemed* to have cooled off, but maybe a lot of consumers have heard the rumors that Apple will be releasing a headset, and they want to see what the Apple offering looks like before buying into anything. These headsets are expensive for how niche they are right now, and people don’t want to invest in them if Apple is going to release something revolutionary shortly after
VR is already pretty incredible with the tech we have now, it’s just rough around the edges, and smoothing out those edges is what Apple does best. If they can reduce the weight and improve the comfort, and make a cohesive system that acts as an extension of the Mac and iPhone with a slick UI and a killer app or two, I think it will be a turning point for VR
I think the initial offering will be mostly VR and AR features will proliferate over time. I’m not sure you could get a large portion of society to overnight start wearing some odd-looking glasses/headset outside. Over time the tech will be miniaturized, battery life will improve, and at the same time people will get used to wearing them, first in the house, and young people will venture out with them and it will become ‘cool’
It will eventually be normalized. It could take decades, but we have to start somewhere
VR is already pretty incredible with the tech we have now, it’s just rough around the edges, and smoothing out those edges is what Apple does best. If they can reduce the weight and improve the comfort, and make a cohesive system that acts as an extension of the Mac and iPhone with a slick UI and a killer app or two, I think it will be a turning point for VR
I think the initial offering will be mostly VR and AR features will proliferate over time. I’m not sure you could get a large portion of society to overnight start wearing some odd-looking glasses/headset outside. Over time the tech will be miniaturized, battery life will improve, and at the same time people will get used to wearing them, first in the house, and young people will venture out with them and it will become ‘cool’
It will eventually be normalized. It could take decades, but we have to start somewhere
This was one of the most cringe inducing things I’ve seen in my life, full stop.
If you think the Jaguar game console is relevant to a discussion of VR viability, I can't take you seriously.
The Jaguar could barely render a couple dozen untextured triangles at a low framerate and resolution. Apparently the Doom port ran at 15 frames per second at 160x180 pixel resolution. According to Wikipedia, the Jaguar sold less than 150K units.
It would be like claiming streaming video is doomed because someone tried it on a 2400 baud modem and it didn't work well.
Last edited:
Apple is "not interested in putting together pieces of somebody else's stuff,"
Xerox Parc: *cough*
Xerox Parc: *cough*
I want an Apple functional Google glass. Something you wear all the time, lets you see but also displays notifications, information, alerts, etc. I have zero interest in wearing some dumb face mask thing to play crummy games.
If we are so close to release, how have there not been leaks of the design? I don't think the Mac rumors ski goggle photoshop jobber is the one.