Meta Hopes Apple Vision Pro Will 'Reinvigorate' Headset Space

[MacRumors]

Meta is "optimistic" that the launch of Apple Vision Pro will help reinvigorate the headset market and drive more users towards its Quest devices, according to Wall Street Journal report.

Meta Quest 3​

Formerly known as Facebook, Meta in 2021 changed its name in part to communicate its vision of a future "metaverse" in which people don its headsets and interact with each other in a completely virtual reality.

Three years on and after pouring $50 billion into investment, Meta's Quest devices barely count as 1% of the social media company's revenue, and the metaverse remains a largely nebulous concept that has so far failed to capture the imagination of customers.

But with the February 2 launch of the Apple Vision Pro just days away, executives at Meta are viewing Apple's entry into the market as a potential validation of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s AR/VR gamble that could draw more consumers into the headset space, according to sources who spoke to WSJ.

Meta employees "see the Quest and its software ecosystem emerging as a primary alternative to Apple in the space, filling the role played by Google's Android in smartphones," claims the report.

Meta is hoping that software makers will be inspired to develop apps that increasingly draw users into the space, enabling more people to experience the new virtual environments, with the company's sub-$500 Quest devices offering a more affordable alternative to Apple's high-end $3,499 headset.

Executives at Meta have also reportedly been influenced by Apple's concept of spatial computing, which emphasizes mixed reality by overlaying virtual images onto real-world surroundings. Apple unveiled the Vision Pro in June 2023, and in the meantime Meta has been "increasingly focusing on mixed reality," claims WSJ's sources.

In addition, some developers are simplifying their apps and favor Apple’s design that allows wearers to use their eyes and fingers to control or manipulate what they see. Meta’s Quest primarily relies on the use of controllers for games or applications, although it can work with finger gestures.

Notably, Apple has shunned Meta's digital reality vision at every opportunity. For example, Apple VP of global marketing Greg Joswiak has said that "metaverse" is a word he will never use. Similarly, Tim Cook was quoted in 2022 as saying he's "not sure the average person can tell you what the metaverse is."


Article Link: Meta Hopes Apple Vision Pro Will 'Reinvigorate' Headset Space

 

[arkitect]

I bet they do!

They need someone else to light the touch paper to make the "headset space" take off.

 

[tubular]

Shorter Zuckwit: "Please, Apple, make this stuff actually work in a way people actually want to use, unlike our metaverse wasteland, so that we can then ride on your coat tails."

 

[Marshall73]

I have a MQ3 and it's much better than the MQ2, primarily because it doesn't make me sick. It could do with a bit of work on the passthrough quality and processing. I can see myself jumping ship to Apple vision as soon as a more affordable headset releases (~£1500). Until then I'll stick to the MQ3.

 

[TJ82]

Reckon this is one of those rare times when all interested parties in VR, ie. Sony, Apple, Meta, Oculus etc all should come and work together as a consortium. They'd be able to convince far more developers to invest in it this way.

Everyone would love a VR headset if it was affordable, and had VR versions of all the popular apps. Browsers are so clunky at present, as is virtual typing, from experience.

Motion sickness has to be eliminated too, by all headsets.

Ultimately a killer game or app is really needed. Imagine Blizzard made a WoW VR game that was actually amazing and super immersive, with team work mechanics not possible in other form factors.

All a pipedream though - this will be a long slow drip.

 

[krspkbl]

Yeah Apple need to catch up to Meta. I hate that company but gotta admit they are the leader when it comes to headsets. PSVR might be second but that's aimed primarily at gaming on Playstation so not the same market.

Apple will need to lower the price significantly and put out a product to compete with the Quest headsets. Here the MQ3 is ~£450 and I'm expecting the Vision Pro to be now lower than £3,000. Most likely it'll be about the same as the USD price in GBP. Maybe whenever we get a "Vision SE" they'll do that.

At this point I'd rather buy a Quest over Vision and agan I hate Meta and think the Quest isn't all that great. Apple could dominate the headset market but we'll see. Price is a major issue and Vision OS is going to take a while to mature and Apple also need to stop working against developers if they want to build a good app store for the headset.

 

[contacos]

Meta's Quest devices barely count as 1% of the social media company's revenue

this is not really surprising considering the Instagram App on Quest is still in Beta and there is no Facebook app either.

I love my Quest 3 but mostly for games. I think it will beat AVP in this regards at least. I remember the first time I put it on, I was like DAMN now this is truly something new! lets face it, getting a new phone just doesn't have the same wow effect anymore

 

[cocoua]

Time to invert in dimenhydrinate meds!

 

[krspkbl]

lets face it, getting a new phone just doesn't have the same wow effect anymore

I still enjoy watching new smartphones...even if they are on the Android side. Yeah smartphones have matured and there's nothing truly exciting but every now and then some one on the Android side does something kind interesting.

Headsets could be the next smartphones but we're still a long long way from that. I do wish Apple success and I'm excited to see future Vision models but they have their work cut out for them. It's going to be at least another 3-5 years before headsets become mainstream if they ever do.

 

[DMG35]

Owning a MQ3 was the reason I ultimately ended up cancelling my Vision Pro order. I don't ever use the thing (its for sale in the Marketplace for anyone interested) and as cool as the Vision Pro looks I know it would end up being a $4000 paperweight that I'd use once every blue moon.

 

[Warped9]

Everyone would love a VR headset if it was affordable…

I have absolutely ZERO interest in this tech or hardware. We all have a kid within us that gets excited about something, but this doesn’t do a thing for me.

It could have practical applications in some manner, but otherwise it’s just another elaborate toy to play with. Just like an Apple Watch, and I have zero interest in getting one of those either.

 

[DelayedGratificationGene]

I love how people post paragraph after paragraph of how they just aren’t interested lol

 

[Timo_Existencia]

Apple will need to lower the price significantly and put out a product to compete with the Quest headsets.

I doubt Apple sees Meta as competition.

To see Meta as competition here is to not understand what Apple is doing, IMO.

 

[wikiverse]

Pretty soon EVERYONE is gonna have a 3DTV VR headset.

 

[Makosuke]

Translation: "Maybe Apple will figure out a way to make the cyberspace thing we tried and failed to do not suck, then we can copy them! We can definitely sell the hardware cheaper, since we'll data-mine the crap out of users and rely on that for profit."

All this stuff is in its infancy so it's impossible to say anything beyond loose speculation, and every version of these things might end up being a solution desperately in search of a problem (see: 3D TV), but there seems to be a pretty fundamental difference between Zuck's silly Metaverse concept and what Apple seems to be trying to do with VisionOS.

In that:

In a theoretical, perfected, future version of Zuck's "The Metaverse®" following its apparent concept, you'd end up at the '80s-style Cyberpunk netrunning--you put on your gear, "jack in" to cyberspace, and jettison your meat-body back in your room to go fly about a completely virtual world living your disconnected from meatspace reality.

In a theoretical, perfected, future version of Apple Vision following its apparent concept, you'd end up with a pair of glasses that look exactly like the glasses you wear anyway, and would walk around in the real world doing the same stuff you do now, but with the added floating UI of Minority Report (or any far-future sci-fi of your choice that features floating screens and 3D holograms), except instead of the UI being somehow projected into space, it'll actually just be in your eyes.

(In anime terms, it's more or less Ghost in the Shell vs. Dennou Coil.)

These two things are vastly different, in that one wants to take you out of the real world as much as possible and put you somewhere else, and one wants to keep you in it as much as possible but replace and improve the UI of the computing tools we currently use.

Both of those ideas are things that sci-fi has played with for decades in exaggerated form. Both could be appealing to the right audience, and either could some day evolve into a thing a lot of people use. They could also both be stupid and fail catastrophically. I know which one I'd rather use, though, and it ain't Meta's version.

Perhaps not coincidentally, most of the sci-fi that features "endgame" versions of Meta's vision are dystopian dark future in which some subset of people spend their lives attached to the technology in question, while in most of the sci-fi that features "endgame" versions of Apple's vision (also Vision) it's just a neat, appealing tool used by the characters and not a lifestyle.

 

[krspkbl]

I have absolutely ZERO interest in this tech or hardware. We have a kid within in this gets excited about something, but this doesn’t do a thing for me.

It could have practical applications in some manner, but otherwise it’s just another elaborate toy to play with. Just like an Apple Watch, and I have zero interest in getting one of those either.

Fair enough but I am super excited for headsets and really want them to take off. The tech still has a long way to go but if they can stick around and get time to improve then they will be amazing.

Every headset out right now is way too big, heavy, and requires too much power to the point you're getting a few hours battery life or have to plug yourself into a wall or PC. I'm thinking more about 10 years from now. Look at how chunky the OG iPhone was compared to something like iPhone 6. That's about when the iPhone slimmed down. The Vision Pro looks huge but in 5+ years it might become a lot slimmer and lighter. I don't know so much about power/efficiency as it seems we're about to hit a wall within that time.

The biggest issue are price and support. Apple will need to release cheaper models and make sure they can keep developers on their side.

Headsets could replace smartphones for majority of people and offer way more functionality.

 

[krspkbl]

I doubt Apple sees Meta as competition.

To see Meta as competition here is to not understand what Apple is doing, IMO.

What is apple doing?

Meta right now is the leader when it comes to headsets. Of course they see them as competition. I think Apple could eventually destroy Meta but they've been in this game longer than Apple and their tech is more mature.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Motion sickness has to be eliminated too, by all headsets.

My buddy's 14 year old son still gets horrible motion sickness from the Quest 3.

 

[coffeemilktea]

This is like if Blackberry had hoped the original iPhone reinvigorated the smartphone space too.

 

[Skyscraperfan]

The only killer application I see for those headsets is adult content, but Apple would never advertise that.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

Meta has been waiting for Apple to take the good market so they can play in the dollar store market? Weird flex.

 

[AlexStudios]

I would not come to conclusions here, not right now. We only got 4 days left.



Let’s just wait and see how all this pans out in the end.

 

[jclardy]

What is apple doing?

Meta right now is the leader when it comes to headsets. Of course they see them as competition. I think Apple could eventually destroy Meta but they've been in this game longer than Apple and their tech is more mature.

The opposite of Meta. Meta focused on gaming and full VR experiences. On Apple's side, mixed reality is the default - you are never pulled out of the experience around you (in the real world) into a black void like you constantly are in the Quest 3.

Traditional apps are at the forefront of the Vision Pro, and are rendered in a consistent UI framework. Apps on the Quest 3 are a hodgepodge of technologies, all have different interaction methods, some require controllers, others can use hands, some use old versions of hand tracking, others even use the direction your face is pointing as the cursor (Designed for the 3DOF Oculus Go.)

Apple Vision Pro is a mixed reality headset, that can do VR as well, if the user wants to do so. The Meta Quest is a VR headset, that has had MR hacked on in the months after meta learned what Apple's plans were. You can tell they rushed it out because there was just one MR title to play at launch, and the store didn't even have an MR category till a few weeks ago.

The Quest 3 is still a great headset - but it is a VR headset pretending to be MR, and Meta is banking on that marketing stunt. So when people see these great MR experiences from Apple, they will then look at the price and turn to meta...which I think unfortunately will be bad - because the quest experience is not going to be anywhere close to Apple's anytime soon.

 

[neuropsychguy]

Just like an Apple Watch, and I have zero interest in getting one of those either.

I think Apple Watches are my favorite Apple product. I like my MacBook, but I'm not set on any particular computer. My main computer is one I built that runs Windows and Linux.

My Apple Watch is what I use the most; much of that use is passive, but I use it for health-related functions. Of the many tech devices I've bought over the years, Apple Watches are the ones that I think are the most life-changing.

 

[Simmias]

Companies and analysts always get this wrong. There is no “headset space”, only a bunch of failed product ideas. And soon there will be a bunch of Vision Pro imitators if Apple succceeds in creating a new market here. It’s exactly analogous to other Apple products where people try to come up with a generic category name for what Apple is selling and pretend that there is a viable market for generic versions:

-There is no “headset market”, only an Apple Vision Pro market. What other successful mainstream headsets can we name?
-There is no “tablet market”, only an iPad market. What other successful mainstream tablets can we name?
-There is no ”smart watch” market, only an Apple Watch market. What other successful mainstream smart watches can we name?