I'm referring to the new strap pictured. Most people are not gonna be keen on messing up their hair to put this huge ass thing of their face and isolate themselves from everyone around them. The whole idea of this device is fundamentally flawed. I understand they want to use it to beta test AR stuff in the real world, I get that, but I still think they should have skipped this version, and come out with something that people actually want to use and wear IRL. I don't think the price is the problem. If it were useful and attractive enough, people would buy it at the current price. The problem is we just have no good use for this thing. And it looks stupid.
EDIT: I should clarify. The device itself doesn't look stupid. I think it's actually very attractive for a headset device. But YOU the wearer, look stupid using it. That's the problem.
Maybe one looks "stupid" wearing it, maybe not (it's only subjective opinion, not objective fact, regardless if it's popular opinion, which is always changing), but the VP is mainly a wear at home device due to the safety issues of being immersed in the go. So I question why looks would even be such a major concern. Are a lot of people concerned with how they look even at home?
As far as the isolation issue, I don't think it's fundamental. Breaking it down, isolation can exist if a user can't see the world, or if others can't see a user. But if passthrough quality and FOV is good enough, then a VP user can see everything/everyone and won't feel especially isolated. That already seems to be the case for most users, although many have said those still need to be improved. People can of course plainly see a VP user except their eyes, but the eyes are the most important part because they show the user's attention and attention is essential for communication. Eyes also show expression but expression can be shown many other ways, the crucial thing is attention. If there is a technology that can show a user's eyes adequately, then others won't feel especially isolated from the user. Some have said Eyesight is baseline good enough to show the user's attention, although it looks weird and blurry. Many others can't (or refuse to) get past the weirdness. In any case, Eyesight likely needs a lot of improvement, but in principle it or some tech like it can solve that half of isolation.
Some people say the VP is isolating because no one can see what the user is looking at, but then so is a privacy screen on one's computer or phone. As long as it's optional, that is a wanted type of isolation. And with the VP it is optional because one can choose to share their POV or virtual screen to another device. But the 3D "experience" can only be shared with another VP user. So it's very expensive, yes, but again, not fundamental.
I agree people will pay any price if the use case is killer enough, but that price applies to everything, not just money, which includes the price of comfort. Think high heels. I also agree it may not have that killer use case for most people. For the VP to become more popular, it needs to require less
of people and/or give more
to people. But that's obvious. And while it's also obvious Apple would love for that to happen, what's not obvious is what is actually possible and what Apple's plans are.
