Mark Zuckerberg Says Apple Vision Pro Has No 'Magical Solutions'

[zach-coleman]

It's good to bring up something like this because I feel this is exactly what Vision Pro critics are missing:

Let's say fully automatic espresso machines where a completely new thing in 2023 -All of them made espresso, but none of them mastered all the aspects of brewing great espresso at home.

The company that can look at all of those almost-great-but-missing-just-these-few-things espresso machines, figure out what's essential, what's not necessary, and bring it together in one espresso machine that does all of them great is the winner (and can also get away with charging much more than the competition).

Apple does not need to do anything that other headsets cannot do to win the AR/VR headset game.

All Apple needs to do is to perfect all the things that the others couldn't and then bring it together in one highly polished, cohesive product.

From what most testers are reporting, it seems Vision Pro is this product.

I really think this comes down to the fact that the average person has never had any interest in VR, much less used a headset themselves. Not many people have experienced how dreadful the current experience is, so they cannot understand how this is different. Not saying every naysayer is in this group, but I think a large portion of them are.

 

[stiligFox]

My take away from the WWDC keynote was that Apple does not want this to become a virtual reality, where we go hide from the real world. They placed a huge emphasize on passing the real world through to the user, if someone comes in the room for instance, as well as showing your eyes to the outside world to keep you grounded in the outside world.

Meta’s vision is almost the opposite, to isolate you into their virtual world with a virtual avatar and hide you away from the real world as much as possible. For Mark to say that the Vision Pro is isolating is… laughable at best.

 

[msackey]

I haven't really watched WWDC, but if it's the case that Apple's Vision Pro isn't strongly intended to create new social experiences, all the better! Let's not kid ourselves and think that we should move towards a virtual reality form of social interaction in that kind of VR headset way. Nah, don't like it. If Zuckerberg's characterisation of Apple's Vision Pro is accurate, I think I prefer Apple's vision than Meta's. We don't need more low-quality virtual reality forms of social interaction.

 

[windywalks]

Meta has different goals for VR. He’s saying that Apple has implemented things they had considered but dismissed with respect to the use cases they are aiming at. Meaning that Apple hasn’t invented anything new that would target Meta’s VR use cases. He’s probably honestly relieved that Apple has a different vision for what AR/VR should be.

Meta has literally no goals for VR comparing to what Apple has demoed at this point.
They are trying, god bless their hearts, but their solution looks dated, ugly and shows very little promise at this point. Zuck has been bleeding money left and right and his team hasn't come up with anything even remotely close to what Apple has. Those avatars of his are an object of ridicule for good reason. He's trying to put a positive spin on his product's shortcomings like any head of a multi billion dollar enterprise would, but there's nothing more to it. So what, if I can afford to buy one of his more premium priced headsets every two months or so, when I just don't want, let alone need one.
Time will tell, but it's the first time I've been even remotely interested in a wearable display, mainly because there is a productivity component in there as well as an entertainment one and the processing power isn't that of a mediocre Android handset.

 

[msackey]

My take away from the WWDC keynote was that Apple does not want this to become a virtual reality, where we go hide from the real world. They placed a huge emphasize on passing the real world through to the user, if someone comes in the room for instance, as well as showing your eyes to the outside world to keep you grounded in the outside world.

Meta’s vision is almost the opposite, to isolate you into their virtual world with a virtual avatar and hide you away from the real world as much as possible. For Mark to say that the Vision Pro is isolating is… laughable at best.

I think you and I wrote similar thought at the same time. You expressed it much better though!

Totally agree. I don't want the trajectory of MORE virtual reality.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

If anything it makes me wish that the Apple Vision Pro had touch controllers and PCVR compatibility so I could ditch my Quest.

 

[JamesHolden]

There’s absolutely no way that direct manipulation of the human mind should be legal, but it’s the *business model* behind the idea of the Metaverse.

All advertising is manipulation. No one is in the ad business, and no one buys ads (including Apple), for altruistic reasons. Anyone who advertises anything is seeking to manipulate. Plus, what constitutes “direct” versus indirect? advertising? Should we not allow any kind of advertising at all?

 

[gatorvet96]

Of course their approaches are different.
I think Meta vs. Apple comes down to the same as Google vs. Apple.
Meta and Google sell your information and keep costs down as they farm us. Apple is private and needs to make the profit from the user and focuses ON the user and not the advertisers.

 

[jimmyyao]

Facebook's Metaverse will soon announce its available on Apple's Vision Pro App Store.

 

[egdiroh]

Zuckerberg also insists that he is a "real human-type male ape".

 

[erikkfi]

"3500 dollars? I said that is the most expensive headset in the world. And it doesn't appeal to metaverse customers because it doesn't have a social app. Which makes it not a very good VR machine." - Mark Zuckerberg

 

[MrENGLISH]

I'm no Facebook or Zuckerberg fan, but I'm a little surprised by some of the reactions I'm seeing. Zuckerberg's got the means to go full throttle with AR/VR if he wanted to. I believe his argument about keeping things affordable is valid. It wasn't all that long ago when people criticized Meta for increasing the price of the Quest 2 and launching the Quest Pro at $1500. If they wanted, they could make a $3500 headset that could compete spec-for-spec with Apple's. They haven't because the market has been telling them majority of buyers don't want to pay $3500 for a headset. If Apple's Vision Pro proves to be successful at that price point, than Meta will follow suit with a more advanced headset.

Honestly, I think Apple has every intention of releasing a more affordable with less features headset, the Apple Vision, either around the same time or shortly after the Vision Pro's release. It has to if it wants to truly take on the mixed reality market.

At least the new competition helped lower Meta's prices and get them to announce the Quest 3 much earlier than they probably wanted to.

 

[bcomer]

​

I have no need for either but giving money to MZ turns my stomach.

 

[tdar]

If I made a list of the people whose opinion matters the least to me. Mr. Zuckerberg, would be third from the top. Right behind his new competitor, Elon Musk. Forum rules prevent me from telling you who is number one.

 

[pbridge354]

Hey Zuck, remember what Steve Balmer said about the iPhone? Yeah.

I’ve seen a few people make this comparison, but it’s not really accurate to do so.

Microsoft didn’t already have a phone of their own, let alone a revolutionary touchscreen one, when the iPhone came out.

If he were saying VR/AR wasn’t the future, then it’d be comparable. But, it’s quit the opposite actually. The guy literally bet his whole company on it.

 

[75Batt]

No doubt. This is why the VR community was so excited over the idea of Apple making an HMD even if it would be out of price of general consumers, because it would bring a lot of interest into VR/AR and bring in new headset sales

So for a while Apple's success will be Meta's success...at least until the consumer model arrives, then history is gonna repeat itself just like it did with the iPhone.

The consumer model has just been announced?

 

[IsaacM]

Awww, Zucky is PRESSET. 🤭

 

[otozuz]

I mean, what else was he expected to say? 😄

 

[patlee2000]

What Mark tried to say... "People are the product, not AR/VR, so the more eyeballs we can track, the more money we will make"

 

[Abobrek]

Prediction: Zuckerberg will be playing in his own Metaverse all alone by himself.

And nearly EVERY Apple promotional video for the Vision Pro shows a SINGLE user by his or herself…alone. I suggest using a Quest so you can see how there’s well…SOCIAL apps. What does Apple have…Facetime?! 🤣🤣🤣

 

[bcomer]

You do not compete by making ****** products - Zune, Windows etc.

 

[75Batt]

To be fair, Apple's Vision is just a rich mans novelty toy. What practical use does it currently have? What problem does it solve that any of us need fixing for $3,500?

But go on, praise Apple for some reason!

What problem did the iPhone solve? . What problem has the iPad solved?

 

[canadianreader]

The guy is a totalitarian militant freak.

Unlike Google and Facebook who are very aggressive in data collection Apple is doing it with a soft touch.

 

[msackey]

I’m very curious what he honestly means by the concept of the apple device being isolating, is his intention for people to walk around outside wearing the Quest 3? At least the Apple device has the ability to emulate eye contact, has pass through of people when immersed, and has a realistic look for you in FaceTime.

The price I suppose is true, but on the other hand, barely anybody bought a Quest 2 for $300, why would they buy a Quest 3 for $500? And then you have the obvious text clarity issues that make this a bad productivity device, something I can personally confirm to you as a Quest 2 owner. It genuinely hurts to read.

Regarding the price, I don't think a company has to make an product cheap enough to include more people. I mean, you can't get new Macs from Apple at the price point of cheap Chromebooks. Different market. Apple no interested. That's fine. Apple doesn't need to kid itself that that product is meant for everyday person; I don't think they did that.

 

[CarAnalogy]

Now THIS is where you use the picture of the model with the annoyed expression. Perfect.

And yes, clearly this is a Ballmer moment. Funny thing is, I think Ballmer was being genuine but I believe Zuckerberg is straight up lying / spinning.