Sure, the announcement is full of cliches and more than a little cringeworthy. But I'm not aware of any device that provides this level of quality and immersion for things like 2D and 3D movies, games, or simply the amount of screen real estate for anything 2D people already use. The genius move with this strategy is that it is mostly about leveling up 2D and existing content and software. With some sprinkling of 3D content.
And probably this device is not fast enough for full immersive 3D gaming to begin with. You'd need that new Mac Studio in a backpack mounted on your back with probably a few kilos of battery dangling behind it and some cooling for you and all that hardware. Not going to happen. Some light gaming is probably fine. But it would be a mistake to aim this at gamers.
If this works as advertised, this could basically replace most of my devices. Why have a laptop when I can just project whatever in my field of view, grab a wireless keyboard and go to work. Not that different from what magic leap promised to deliver years ago. Only issue with that is of course that they never really delivered that. Apple seems a bit further with their R&D.
Probably the first generation will have some significant limitations and a certain level of being just a bit uncomfortable. That head band doesn't look fun without AC, for example. And of course motion sickness might be a thing. Not to mention headaches and other potential side-effects of prolonged exposure to this. And probably showing up in public with this is not a great idea in terms of getting robbed, beaten up, etc. Also, the whole interacting with family is seriously cringe-worthy to look at. This looks to me like a solo experience that has not much capability for sharing it with others.
On the other hand, I think they just presented a big money making machine with an amazing walled garden that is pretty much guaranteed to bring countless users if if gets even close to delivering what is on display here.
I think 3.5K$ is pretty OK as a price point. I don't have that kind of disposable income necessarily. But lots of people undeniably do. And this does have a certain level of wow that unlocks that kind of budget for those with this kind of money. I bet lots of people are itching to throw money at this thing on the off chance it is much than half as good as this announcement suggests.
I'm just hoping that this kicks the competition into gear. This looks like it is a lot nicer to have than some of the other stuff out there. The flip side is of course that it's all locked behind the towering walls of Apple's walled garden. This just screams for a more open answer. Meta looks like it just got its lunch eaten pretty thoroughly. Mark Zuckerberg going on about having meetings in VR just isn't quite going to be good enough. I'd love to see what MS comes up with. They've been working on holo lens for years and been holding off on putting it in the hands of consumers. This might prompt them to kick a few things into gear. A pro-sumer focused version of that maybe with some XBox and Steam action on the side could tempt a few people.
And of course all of this stuff is going to be cat nip for the adult entertainment industry. Forget games. I don't think I need to spell that out for this audience. I'm curious to see how Apple is going to contain that.
> Meta looks like it just got its lunch eaten pretty thoroughly
I don't see how you can come to that conclusion. Meta's offerings looks far better in my view. Unless, I'm missing something here, Meta's Quest Pro appears to provide basically 95% of the experience for $2,500 less, while providing great controllers for gaming. All in a form factor which IMO is better (no wired hip battery).
You're seriously overestimating the experience of the Quest Pro. Have a read of Nilay Patel's experience with the Vision Pro: it doesn't even come close.
the wired hip battery is far better than the weight of the headset on your neck.
And probably this device is not fast enough for full immersive 3D gaming to begin with. You'd need that new Mac Studio in a backpack mounted on your back with probably a few kilos of battery dangling behind it and some cooling for you and all that hardware. Not going to happen. Some light gaming is probably fine. But it would be a mistake to aim this at gamers.
If this works as advertised, this could basically replace most of my devices. Why have a laptop when I can just project whatever in my field of view, grab a wireless keyboard and go to work. Not that different from what magic leap promised to deliver years ago. Only issue with that is of course that they never really delivered that. Apple seems a bit further with their R&D.
Probably the first generation will have some significant limitations and a certain level of being just a bit uncomfortable. That head band doesn't look fun without AC, for example. And of course motion sickness might be a thing. Not to mention headaches and other potential side-effects of prolonged exposure to this. And probably showing up in public with this is not a great idea in terms of getting robbed, beaten up, etc. Also, the whole interacting with family is seriously cringe-worthy to look at. This looks to me like a solo experience that has not much capability for sharing it with others.
On the other hand, I think they just presented a big money making machine with an amazing walled garden that is pretty much guaranteed to bring countless users if if gets even close to delivering what is on display here.
I think 3.5K$ is pretty OK as a price point. I don't have that kind of disposable income necessarily. But lots of people undeniably do. And this does have a certain level of wow that unlocks that kind of budget for those with this kind of money. I bet lots of people are itching to throw money at this thing on the off chance it is much than half as good as this announcement suggests.
I'm just hoping that this kicks the competition into gear. This looks like it is a lot nicer to have than some of the other stuff out there. The flip side is of course that it's all locked behind the towering walls of Apple's walled garden. This just screams for a more open answer. Meta looks like it just got its lunch eaten pretty thoroughly. Mark Zuckerberg going on about having meetings in VR just isn't quite going to be good enough. I'd love to see what MS comes up with. They've been working on holo lens for years and been holding off on putting it in the hands of consumers. This might prompt them to kick a few things into gear. A pro-sumer focused version of that maybe with some XBox and Steam action on the side could tempt a few people.
And of course all of this stuff is going to be cat nip for the adult entertainment industry. Forget games. I don't think I need to spell that out for this audience. I'm curious to see how Apple is going to contain that.