Rivals have rushed to their defense in the event of Apple’s rumored virtual reality headset

What Do You Expect to See in the App Store? Considerations on a Passthrough-Order Augmented Reality Device for Consumers and Governments

There are some reasons to think that Apple is better positioned than these companies. The tech has matured significantly since it was pioneered by the likes of Microsoft, Magic Leap, and Glass. Apple has a consumer hardware track record that is almost no other company can match. That includes not only carefully produced industrial design and interfaces like trackpads but, in recent years, its own fairly powerful chips. If we were facing rumors of a similar headset from someone other than Apple, I don’t think it would be very successful. “Apple has huge scale, huge developer support, huge consumer support — and no one else comes even close to that.”

Other competitors vary in purpose and price. Magic Leap released a second headset for about $3,300 last year that was geared towards enterprise customers. The company is reportedly in talks with Meta about an augmented reality deal. The Sony PSVR 2 launched this year at a cost of $550.

Moreover, few people seem to think passthrough AR is an endpoint for the medium. As Nguyen points out, a passthrough headset poses basic safety risks compared to a more glasses-like system: if its video feed stutters or goes dark, it temporarily blinds the user. It is risky to use outside a home or office environment. “I see the Apple device as being a replacement of my iMac,” says Nima Shams, VP at DigiLens, a longtime maker of optics for glasses-style headsets. “I don’t see the device being a replacement of my iPhone.” A transparent, non-pass through headset is rumored to be in the works for Apple, but isn’t what people will see on Monday.

Apple’s augmented reality headset isn’t just what it should be: What do it have to offer? The case against the walled garden

There have been plenty of drawbacks to the idea that it just works. Apple has mastered the walled garden, and many app developers who work inside it aren’t happy with the results. It’s spent years fighting some prominent developers like Epic and Match Group in court, and others have testified in Congress about having their apps locked down and undercut by Apple’s own copycats.

No tech category needs Apple’s “it just works” promise more than AR. The format is sometimes referred to as mixed reality orXR, because it shows how confusing the consumer pitch is. Pure consumer VR — while a small market — has coalesced around relatively popular genres like fitness apps, a few common storefronts like SteamVR and the Quest store, and a widely used controller scheme.

Based on numerous leaks, Apple’s headset uses what’s called “passthrough” AR. It has high resolution screens and is able to run full virtual reality applications, but it is also studded with cameras that can see high-resolution images of the real world, so it may be better to use it as a virtual reality headset. That means it can offer the illusion of a real world with virtual objects overlaid on it.

There are many types of hardware, ranging from bulky headsets to smart glasses that do little more than show an alert. It’s software is often used for business uses. There isn’t a consensus on control schemes.

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/4/23747110/apple-headset-augmented-reality-vr-industry-rumors-wwdc-2023

Augmented Reality: Where are we coming from? How are we going? What will we say? Where will we go? Where do we stand, where we are going?

Proponents point to Apple’s history of entering a market once other companies have laid the groundwork, as it did with phones. But much of it can be summed up in two statements: Apple can sell hardware, and Apple is cool.

There are many doubts surrounding the anticipated jump into augmented reality by Apple on Monday. There have been reports of long term changes in direction and skepticism inside Apple. The device was difficult to make and needed a lot of compromises. The process has taken years longer than Apple expected. And at a rumored $3,000, even Apple reportedly expects slow short-term sales.

But among AR professionals, the mood is jubilant. “This is the single greatest thing that could happen to this industry,” says Jay Wright, CEO of VR / AR collaboration platform Campfire 3D. “Whether you make hardware or software. We’re excited about it.”