It appears that Apple's vision for the future is this, a VR headset.
They're cool and quite a bit of fun, at least for a while.
And at this year's WWDC, we're expecting to see their version of it.
From what I know about Apple's history, this seems off, an Apple VR platform that seems
so open-ended and unresolved. I'm not confident and I don't know why.
So to see if I'm the only one, out of the announcement, let's ask people what they
want from an Apple VR headset.
Mark, do I look cool wearing these?
A little bit. Kind of, but probably just wear inside.
You look cooler. What? Kind of.
Kind of look like a bug. I don't know where to look. Look, like there's cameras right above your nose.
You look like a Star Wars alien if I just focus on that.
This headset has been a long time coming, actually, with rumors trickling out steadily
for the past eight years.
People have been speculating about the specs, but I'm more interested in the whole point
of Apple's headset. Because frankly, I think it's worth tamping down expectation.
So if I had to sum it up, it's probably not going to be amazing.
In my opinion, what they're going to probably announce or release according to all those
rumors, it's going to be kind of VR headsets with potentially C2 applications.
To help me on my journey, I reached out to Zane Bahamri, a lead analyst for Display Imaging,
as well as Eugene Fumay, Dean of Applied Sciences at Simon Fraser University here in Burnaby.
I would have preferred the straight AR solution personally.
I think there would be a lower barrier to acceptance, and more people would try it out.
I think AR actually has more potential in society at large.
The very fact you're looking at me through this VR headset, and I'm not sharing that
experience with you, is fundamentally problematic.
But I'm not too surprised that they would go to a VR setting first.
There is an opportunity to capitalize on existing VR applications, interesting graphics games,
and having a pass-through gives you an AR-ish experience.
The closest analog to what's expected is this, the MetaQuest Pro.
I've been using it for the past week, and it's really sold me on what VR offers,
especially in terms of immersion and sense of scale in virtual worlds.
Whoa, cool apartment! Unfortunately, it's decent hardware controlled by maddening Meta software.
But fortunately, this is what Apple does best. Take an established category that's a little lost, and then show the world how it should be done.
It's what they did with the PC, it's what they did with the music player, it's what they did with the cell phone, and I guess what they're doing with the Apple Watch.
The question is, are those past successes any indication that Apple will be the company to
finally crack VR, or is this just a radically different challenge from what they faced before?
Search! We have to remember that this idea of extending reality has been around for millennia.
I mean, you know, with the development of eyeglasses and microscopes and telescopes,
we're kind of extending the nature of the reality we can perceive.
So this idea of augmenting reality has been around a long time.
The difference is that those were all purpose-built.
What we're dealing with here with these glass technologies is we've been through a cycle since,
you know, the mid-1960s, and they've really been largely the same kind of applications,
simulation technologies, and it's moved into the idea of immersive computer graphics environments,
games, and so on. So the cycle of applications hasn't changed that much, and the nature of the,
frankly, the form factor has not changed that much.
And the use case, the application is really what's missing. And I mean, if we look at the history, you opened up with the VR.
Don't know if you remember, 2014, Max Zuckerberg by Oculus for two billion,
and he says, no worry, we're going to start with the video gamers, and then it's going to be what he
called a social VR. It's going to be for everyone. You're going to be able to call the grandma or the
VR and so on and so forth. Lo and behold, we are many years after that, and the market is only
the video gamers and the industrial applications. I'm sure you've heard that there are a lot of
rumors that Apple's going to release a headset similar to this. What should it do? Like, what's
I don't want to watch like Netflix outside, but like maybe scan some areas, maybe make
graphs, I don't know. Final Cut Pro, my new editing setup. So you would edit Final Cut Pro in like a
virtual world? That'd be amazing. What's that movie? Minority report? Minority report, but like video
editing. I'm not an Apple. I don't have anything Apple, so I don't, if it could get my wife interested
in it, then I would buy it. Seriously, if this could get your wife into VR, that would make it work well.
Yeah. The more that being in a VR environment is more like being in the real world, this is obvious.
The more I want to try it. Yeah. Yeah, it would be cool if it can incorporate with some like
applications where you can like do like draping or some sort or pattern making.
Because gravity sketch can already do something similar with like drawing in a 3D space with
VR headsets. What would it have to do to be revolutionary and useful? You'd have to be able
to use it while it's charging. Okay. Would I want to watch a movie through an AR VR headset?
No, we already saw the problem with that with stereo televisions. You lose track of your
companions. What I would want is something where there's nothing but a gain. And there seems to be
a situation where there's a gain, but there's a demonstrable loss. So if it's win-win-win along
the way, then I'm in. Well, it's interesting you mentioned like that we've been making progress
forward, but there's always been kind of caveats. It kind of feels then that we're not getting as
far as we could. Like there's lots of obstacles in the way. What we haven't seemed to have gotten
past is getting really into the mainstream. We seem to be stuck in the early adopter world
with these technologies. Unlike, say, you know, look at where we've gone with games technologies
and how far people are willing to go to really upgrade their systems so that they get the best
possible experience. They're early adopters, but there's many others that have joined. There's a
huge momentum to the point that video games are a gigantic industry that dwarfs the moving industry.
So show me more gains. And you know, I'm all in if they do.
Like VR, the rumors of Apple's headset haven't shown a win-win though. It sounds more like a
compromise. The dream and intention from the start was to create a set of augmented reality
glasses, which wouldn't look out of place on your face while displaying an interface in your space.
But that's not happening. Instead, we're getting mixed reality. And that's quite new.
Using this makes that hard to see, though. Sure, I can walk around with it just fine,
but the effect from these cameras make me feel like Scott Pilgrim battling the X's.
And who wants to do that? In 2017, Apple launched ARKit for developers,
and for a few years after, they would demo how the LiDAR sensors in their pro-mobile devices
could enable such amazing experiences, like Lego on a table or overlays in clips. Perhaps the best
experience I've been able to find is the AR walking directions in Apple Maps. That would be great
in a pair of glasses, but only if I'm willing to be seen out in public with them. What I'm hoping for
is that we see a lot of creative people looking at these beyond-games technologies, that they'll
be looking at more somber or austere applications that really will help people. And another aspect
of this is how do we make these devices more inclusive? But we really need creative software
people to generate and develop really interesting, inclusive applications.
So what kind of applications can we expect developers to make? Currently the most compelling
use case for VR is gaming, but that's the one thing Apple's the worst at. If a developer wants
to make a game, they have to use Apple's Metal API, whereas most are using Vulkan.
So if you were to take the number of VR developers and cross them with the number of Metal API
developers, I imagine the Venn diagram overlap is quite slim. Not to mention if they have to give
30% of all transactions on the platform to Apple, which has already strained the company's
relationships with developers, even on top of App Store review struggles.
But maybe we don't need any new applications. We just need the applications we already have
with a new interface and in a new way, which is what Apple's done exceedingly well. The
Macintosh had the mouse, the iPod had the click wheel, the iPhone had multi-touch.
You know, one of the things that we really might want to think more about is the whole
nature of display systems. As I went through my understanding of computer graphics, I was forced
to learn about magic. And the magic starts with things like cathode ray tubes. They're magic.
Then we go to, you know, we went to LCDs and to LEDs, magic. But one of the things that we're stuck
with is the display. And it means that we have to go to the display. The promise of AR and VR,
in particular AR, is that we can be freed from the display as a fixed thing.
We actually have an opportunity to get a glimpse of what this is like with the in real
air glasses. And I gave Eugene a chance to try them out himself.
You know, that's really good. I think I could actually use this. That's always being the promise
of it. And that's, I think, a place where we can kind of imagine really a world where the computer,
and in some sense, the display disappears. It's simply part of a human visual system,
part of the cognitive processing we do. I think it will happen though. And that's,
that's really something for us to be thinking about as human beings. What will happen when we
are completely unmoored from, you know, the home office and the display systems that we
essentially have our faces stuck into. Now the display travel with us. It's kind of cool when
you think about that as it's as the promise of the technology. It's really interesting that you
bring up, you know, replacing screens because that is kind of a compelling application. And is
it really that simple? I think it is that simple. And, but then we have to have the compelling
applications. I could imagine sitting in the office managing Windows floating in space,
maybe even video editing a timeline that spans across the entirety of the desk.
The office use case is where meta has been trying to go and they've yet to set the world on fire.
But meta is an apple.
And the apple coming in would be kind of a strong commitment. So they're going to release something
that's top level that she goes through. And I'm really hoping that it creates the emulation
and the development that's needed for the whole industry because you can have the best hardware.
If you don't have anything to use it for, it's going to be useless. So you can see, right?
But you know, it's going to happen. Like this is going to happen. Does it happen now versus
the next wheel of reincarnation? That's going to be the interesting question.
So yeah, it's been a 50 some odd year process. And it'll just be very interesting to see
where we end up. I think, you know, given Apple's reputation, I think they'll likely have a very
nice looking headset. Thanks for making this Mac Address a virtual reality. If you're excited for
Apple's headset, give this video a like. And if you want to learn about it when it gets announced,
well, you might as well subscribe. Now, I'm curious in the comments below what you think
the right use case for one of these is.