Apple’s Vision Pro shows consumers what is feasible and helps advance spatial computing.
When Apple introduced its AR Kit software at WWDC in 2017, I had the chance to talk with Apple CEO Tim Cook at a personal event within the afternoon after the morning keynote. I asked him about his thoughts on AR and he told me that he believes AR technology could in the future be one in every of Apple’s most vital products. He also confirmed that the corporate is committed to delivering a strong AR experience in the long run.
That’s why Apple created the AR Kit and was within the technique of developing software for a brand new AR device that, when accomplished, would offer lots of, if not hundreds, of apps. Tim Cook also told me that the AR device needed to be more like glasses: unobtrusive and acceptable to everyone.
So when reports first emerged around 2021 that Apple was constructing VR-like headsets, you possibly can understand my confusion given my previous conversation with Tim Cook.
Through my interactions with optical glass suppliers, battery manufacturers, wireless radio vendors, and others, I’m aware of the necessity to optimize these products and ideal the technology required to deliver immersive AR/MR experiences in eyewear form. It is becoming clear that the event of advanced AR/MR eyewear remains to be a minimum of several years away.
We now know that Apple, wanting to play a big role in making a mixed reality experience, has as an alternative decided to develop a “moonshot” product first.
Although Vision Pro doesn’t sell in large numbers, mainly on account of its $3,500 price tag, it will not be the product that may bring Apple AR/MR to the masses, however it does play a crucial role within the XR spatial computing world.
A giant a part of that is that XR and spatial computing have turn out to be known to each business users and consumers. Millions of individuals have experienced an XR spatial computing future due to free demos of Apple’s Vision Pro in Apple Stores.
In fact, as I discussed in my recent column at Augmented World Expo, all of my panelists who’re industry leaders in XR headsets welcome Apple to this market. They imagine Apple is a crucial ambassador in helping consumers understand the role of XR spatial headsets within the metaverse.
Second, a moonshot product with so many great immersive 3D features, including VR and AR in a single headset, shows people what is feasible today. Yes, it’s in an expensive headset format. Still, it serves as a method to spur software developers and show potential users how virtual technology will deliver a groundbreaking experience over time.
The third essential point is that Apple has used the event of Vision Pro to construct a sophisticated ecosystem of software and services. Once the technology is prepared for most people, Apple could eventually bring true AR glasses to market.
Apple has clearly used the event of the Vision Pro to develop recent hardware, software and services that may allow it to create more powerful headsets. These headsets shall be lighter, cheaper and can eventually be within the glasses format that Tim Cook described about seven years ago.
As one headset maker told me at AWE a number of weeks ago, he expects Apple to be a serious competitor. He also believes Apple’s Vision Pro, which shows what’s possible, will help the corporate and others grow the spatial computing market.
Disclosure: Apple subscribes to Creative Strategies research reports, as do many other high-tech corporations all over the world.
