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Gurman: Apple is building a metaverse-like world and 3D video service for its VR headset. Costs between $2000-$3000. M2-chip 10 cameras.

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
Well, to be fair, the types of people who bought that thing is an extreme loyalist. I like Apple products generally as they work very well, but I'm the first to admit there is a certain level of insanity for those who have to have the most expensive shit Apple sells. I'd say this VR unit is in that category as well.

That's not untrue. However, this is a limited size group, and now shrink that audience by at least 95%, since most won't care about high end VR. It's a tiny market to begin with. Unit number sales will suffer as a result. The only saving grace could be some sort of school or industrial/work related sales.
 
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Three

Member
Dont underestimate what Apple will sell to reap in giant profits from loyalists. Here it is from Apple Canada's site.

suyNKHb.jpg
That thing was absolutely ridiculous when it was announced but do you know how many people bought it? I would say probably not many. Whether this Apple VR succeeds depends on how many people buy it and for $2-3k I don't think it would be many.
 
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Zok310

Banned
Dont understand the vr hook when we literally have real life.
I guess you can really sell anything to some people.
 
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Mattyp

Gold Member
All I can say is if it has the M2 chipset it will be the most powerful headset we’ve had to date so be interesting to see the results.

Bet on full wireless and not looking like an eyesore to. That said I don’t see Apple actually engaging in this market just yet.
 

reksveks

Member
Will be a device to start building an audience but more importantly give the devs a platform to build on top of.

Can only go so far with mobile ar/vr api's
 

Shtef

Member
Its really expensive and i will definitely not buy it, however its cool that apple is entering this market. If its successful they will release cheaper more mainstream devices, more companies will copy it and we will have bunch of ar/vr glasses for reasonable prices. From tech standpoint it will be interesting to follow how will this turn out.
 
Maybe who knows
Complaining about price with apple is billshit anyways.

The apple watch ultra is 999 and it looks and feels premium af.

Apple getting into Vr will revolutionize it.
Same for tablets
Wireless airbuds
Smartwatches

Etc etc
Oh yes, no arguing there.
 

Soodanim

Gold Member
The difference with Stadia is Stadia was competing against mature platforms with very rich content.

VR is all still in the phase of Launch-Nintendo-style gimmicky shit. Other than a few standouts like Half-life, the bar is still so incredibly low.

When you say "niche" support - compared to what? It's all pretty damn niche.
That makes it even harder to get anyone to care. Stadia was in a market of people that wanted the products but it wasn't the right product. This is a market of people that don't want the product, definitely not at that price.

By Stadia's niche support I mean from the very small number of fans that actively used it as their main system that probably didn't exceed 1000 people. But it also applies to the support from developers, because unless they're paid handsomely out of Apple's pockets no one big is going to want to waste dev time on a platform with such low adoption rates. The mainstream technology markets they're trying to be upgrades to are the farthest thing from niche, but $3000 isn't buy it to try it money, that's a serious commitment.

For $3000 you can get so much more, and those things would have much more utility than this one gimmick.
 

Elitro

Member
Lots of hate towards Apple here. Reminds me of myself before my company sponsored me their products.

Don't get me wrong though, i'm not buying a headset for that price, but i'm certainly curious for Apple's take on a VR headset.

More players entering the space can only be good for the consumers. Their M chip is amazing, and being an Apple product the headset could actually be quite solid. The sooner they enter the space, the faster they can start iterating and dropping prices on old models.
 

jigglet

Banned
That makes it even harder to get anyone to care. Stadia was in a market of people that wanted the products but it wasn't the right product. This is a market of people that don't want the product, definitely not at that price.

By Stadia's niche support I mean from the very small number of fans that actively used it as their main system that probably didn't exceed 1000 people. But it also applies to the support from developers, because unless they're paid handsomely out of Apple's pockets no one big is going to want to waste dev time on a platform with such low adoption rates. The mainstream technology markets they're trying to be upgrades to are the farthest thing from niche, but $3000 isn't buy it to try it money, that's a serious commitment.

For $3000 you can get so much more, and those things would have much more utility than this one gimmick.

I'm not saying it's going to be any more compelling or not. You're probably right. I'm just saying the Stadia comparison isn't apt, that's all.
 

Mephisto40

Member
No doubt existing users / idiots paying outrageous monthly contracts on their phones will lap this up and not mind paying £200+ a month for the privilege of having the apple logo on everything
 
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64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
this shit isn't DOA it's gonna sell more than any VR headset out there. it's apple. If anyone can make VR mainstream it's them
 

Trilobit

Member
The more competition, the better for the customers. I'm very eager to see their metaverse as Meta's version looks appaling.
 

levyjl1988

Banned
Best not to buy the initial headsets, pretty much paying premium prices for a beta and an initial first look experience.
Meta, Microsoft, and Apple are building their so called web 3.0 metaverse. Chasing that Ready Player One dream and expecting that initial platform to succeed over the rest similar to the HD DVD vs BluRay wars.
The one with best foundation will rule. I doubt Facebook/Meta will come out on top, why? Because people still associate Meta with Facebook. A lot of people quit Facebook and they are synonymous with Farmville and ads everywhere that their design look fugly. Apple will rule with design, technology and advertisement, but Microsoft will succeed with software and with games. Amazon makes good tv show productions, amazon web prime services and distribution but sucks at making games.

Video games in Meta are going to be so fucking broken and buggy.

Look at Skyrim, a decades old game and still has bugs from launch day that devs won’t fix but would happily port over. That is what Meta will be in the future. Broken and won’t be patched or fixed. Leave it to fans and external groups to patch.
 

UnNamed

Banned
I don't belive Apple would make a standard VR headset, let alone their own metaverse.

A pair of AR glasses makes more sense.
 

Larogue

Member
No thanks, not another Apple locked down system.

Hope people now have noticed what is happening on mobile phones, and won't allow that duopoly to carry on to the AR/VR era.
 
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levyjl1988

Banned
Apple makes MORE money in gaming than the Big 3 combine
YroKWOJ.jpg


You guys a very close-minded and don't understand the sheer weight of apple making a new hardware. Your bias towards Apple will only make them stronger.
Sure Apple has gaming through monetization of micro-transactions, loot boxes, gambling mechanics, and free-to-play methodology. But Apple doesn’t have any IP. I hope they will feed those funds toward research and development towards future product prospects and gaming endeavours, but here I think it will feed its shareholders and it will fuel nothing. Apple has been a husk of its former self since Steve Jobs died, no innovation or fuelling of the market.

I don’t even think of Apple when it comes to gaming to be honest. There are apps but there are no first part IPs. When I think of Nintendo I think of Mario, Pokemon and its IPs. When I think of Apple I think of iMac, iPhones and iPads, that’s about it. Apple does not have IPs to offer that is good, no established franchise molded by history, nothing.
 

DaGwaphics

Member
You guys a very close-minded and don't understand the sheer weight of apple making a new hardware. Your bias towards Apple will only make them stronger.

They get that from selling their general purpose device though. I don't see how it correlates to a very expensive VR device.

Has Apple actually shown this or are people just guessing on what this is? I always assumed that Apple would go the Google Glass route vs. a traditional VR headset. It fits their general purpose product line better, IMO.
 

SoraNoKuni

Member
That actually makes sense, go overkill so you can show the world that the tech is here and can be the next big thing, the manage to make it more accessible year per year, the big price actually make their products desirable to most of people, so when apple vr 2 or 3 launches at 1,499 people will think it's the best deal ever.
 

CeeJay

Member
The headset quality and price are secondary, what will decide whether it's a success or not will be the stuff you can do on it. If they can figure out what a metaverse is exactly and why we need it as consumers (I am highly sceptical about that) then it could end up being a "money no object" device. If you look back to when the first iPhone released and it was way way WAY more expensive than any other phone out there (literally 4X the price of the average phone back in 2007) and it flew off the shelves. Nowadays there are several other phone manufacturers in the same price range as Apple and although a premium device there is not so much of a gulf between them. A lot of people nowadays think nothing of buying a £$1000 handset. Apple did a similar thing for laptops and paved the way for premium all aluminium, compact body ultrabooks. If Apple can come up with something revolutionary (again, doubts!) then they could do the same thing again for VR. In a way, if it does do gangbusters then the trickle down from it will accelerate VR tech and adoption. Currently there is a bit of an arbitrary ceiling of what is an acceptable price for a VR headset which is limiting the quality of experience to some extent, Apple have no regard for what they charge for their products and admittedly do always deliver a premium and slick experience.
 

Trogdor1123

Gold Member
Sound’s probably pretty great, price aside.

My biggest issue would be software support. Apple doesn’t have the internal teams to support this, do they?
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
The headset quality and price are secondary, what will decide whether it's a success or not will be the stuff you can do on it. If they can figure out what a metaverse is exactly and why we need it as consumers (I am highly sceptical about that) then it could end up being a "money no object" device. If you look back to when the first iPhone released and it was way way WAY more expensive than any other phone out there (literally 4X the price of the average phone back in 2007) and it flew off the shelves. Nowadays there are several other phone manufacturers in the same price range as Apple and although a premium device there is not so much of a gulf between them. A lot of people nowadays think nothing of buying a £$1000 handset. Apple did a similar thing for laptops and paved the way for premium all aluminium, compact body ultrabooks. If Apple can come up with something revolutionary (again, doubts!) then they could do the same thing again for VR. In a way, if it does do gangbusters then the trickle down from it will accelerate VR tech and adoption. Currently there is a bit of an arbitrary ceiling of what is an acceptable price for a VR headset which is limiting the quality of experience to some extent, Apple have no regard for what they charge for their products and admittedly do always deliver a premium and slick experience.
There is no ceiling on acceptable price for VR headset, I think people in this thread think the market is a lot more mature than it really is. In reality it’s all still in flux. If anything I think the manufacturers realized that they priced the initial headsets too *low* and that put a cap on what they could do. Hence Meta Quest Pro being $1500, Valve Index launching at $1000 and staying there, Sony’s headset being functionally $1050 (PS5 + headset).

Also, the fact is that lots of people who stayed away from Sony, HTC, Meta, Valve, whomever, will be more open to it because it’s Apple. That’s just how it is. We saw it with smartphones, tablets, watches, etc. For a lot of people, Apple *is* computing.
 
Sure Apple has gaming through monetization of micro-transactions, loot boxes, gambling mechanics, and free-to-play methodology. But Apple doesn’t have any IP. I hope they will feed those funds toward research and development towards future product prospects and gaming endeavours, but here I think it will feed its shareholders and it will fuel nothing. Apple has been a husk of its former self since Steve Jobs died, no innovation or fuelling of the market.

I don’t even think of Apple when it comes to gaming to be honest. There are apps but there are no first part IPs. When I think of Nintendo I think of Mario, Pokemon and its IPs. When I think of Apple I think of iMac, iPhones and iPads, that’s about it. Apple does not have IPs to offer that is good, no established franchise molded by history, nothing.

You should have just started and finished with just "I don’t even think of Apple when it comes to gaming to be honest"

Apple doesnt need (exclusive) IPs as you can see, and based on the current, traditional gaming industry, including people on GAF, most gamers don't give a fk about exclusive games. We are talking about the majority here. i personally think exclusive IPs is needed; however, I and many core gamers today are the minority in this.

They get that from selling their general purpose device though. I don't see how it correlates to a very expensive VR device.

Has Apple actually shown this or are people just guessing on what this is? I always assumed that Apple would go the Google Glass route vs. a traditional VR headset. It fits their general purpose product line better, IMO.

it correlates because of the price.... (brace yourself because I'm about to reveal the obvious) DOESNT MATTER TO CONSUMERS WHO WANT APPLE PRODUCT. There's not a ps5 owner right now who would think twice of the launch cost of the ps5 being $1000.01. You would find away to get it. So"Apples expensive" jab every year it pointless.

repeat after me: Apple products are expensive because someone will buy it. get over it


I'm sure they have countless companies already on board to show off AR/VR GAMES AND APPS.
 
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poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
My mother in law has a $2k Mac (at the time, last gen of Intel I think) for checking email. It's also running at sub 1080p so she can read the text.
If they can make a light, comfortable headset with some kind of utility then they will find a market.
 
A $2000 product that isn't subsidized by phone providers will never see anything but a very limited market.
Apple does Apple "Payments" for all products as long as you use your AppleCard. They take the price of the damn thing and break it up into 12/24 payments... basically like a phone plan now.
 
If they can make a lightweight metal framed eyeware with my prescription and AR abilities tied to my phone wirelessly. I'll 'look' into it.
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
Apple does Apple "Payments" for all products as long as you use your AppleCard. They take the price of the damn thing and break it up into 12/24 payments... basically like a phone plan now.

Different than the phone plan for the following reasons:

- often the cost of the phone is actually discounted by the provider, not just spread out over time

- the vr device has about 95% less appeal vs a phone, a device you heavily rely on and is accepted universally


-
 
If you use the Apple Card, you could buy the thing for 50 bucks a month for 3 years. save a bit more on interest if paid off early. (Apple Card has one of the lower starter rates).
 

DaGwaphics

Member
You should have just started and finished with just "I don’t even think of Apple when it comes to gaming to be honest"

Apple doesnt need (exclusive) IPs as you can see, and based on the current, traditional gaming industry, including people on GAF, most gamers don't give a fk about exclusive games. We are talking about the majority here. i personally think exclusive IPs is needed; however, I and many core gamers today are the minority in this.



it correlates because of the price.... (brace yourself because I'm about to reveal the obvious) DOESNT MATTER TO CONSUMERS WHO WANT APPLE PRODUCT. There's not a ps5 owner right now who would think twice of the launch cost of the ps5 being $1000.01. You would find away to get it. So"Apples expensive" jab every year it pointless.

repeat after me: Apple products are expensive because someone will buy it. get over it


I'm sure they have countless companies already on board to show off AR/VR GAMES AND APPS.

Season 2 Lol GIF by Friends


I hope you don't honestly believe that. That isn't true for any product, including Apple's.

I'm still not seeing the correlation between selling an expensive phone that is mostly paid for by carriers and an expensive VR headset. Everyone needs a phone, a very small percentage is interested in VR.

If they can get some good experiences out there and available for it, maybe that might drive VR somewhat. 🤷‍♂️
 
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HTK

Banned
I just don't get it...

- Wages have been stagnant
- Houses are high along with high interest rates
- Cars are more expensive and now have a higher interest rate
- Student Loans
- Inflation
- Everything is expensive

At some point the camels back has to break....
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
People take train trips around the Rocky Mountains that cost $5,000+ dollars for a week duration.

If the VR world is interesting enough (big if), people will pay that price.

The VR - Metaverse is happening. It's a matter of when, not if.
 

Buggy Loop

Member
I just don't get it...

- Wages have been stagnant
- Houses are high along with high interest rates
- Cars are more expensive and now have a higher interest rate
- Student Loans
- Inflation
- Everything is expensive

At some point the camels back has to break....

world louis GIF


Heads will have to roll before you see deep changes in status quo.
 
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