alt Hacker NewsI will never understand the decision-making process that led to "Let's build an awesome VR headset that can't do gaming".
I would love to replace my monitor with Apple Vision Pro for programming and productivity. I would gladly pay $1000 for that.
But at $4000 it really needs to put me in a Microsoft Flight Simulator cockpit.
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It's the same decision-making process that tried to do a electric car for years, and canceled it after spending time and money. In that exact timeline, China made great electic cars and new brands, Tesla advanced and Spacex launched dozens or more rockets. Apple is so far from any big new tech, they and market don't even realize it.
Apple had more money and influence than combination of all of them, yet failed with car and VR. Why would anyone think they can't fail much much bigger with AI and LLMs ?
Same decision making process behind making a VR headset out of heavy materials like glass and aluminum
> I will never understand the decision-making process that led to "Let's build an awesome VR headset that can't do gaming".
FOMO, someone else being successful in VR (and now in glasses) is a nightmare scenario for Apple because it's not their platform. They've got a lot to fear from someone else owning the platform, having written the playbook on how that platform would be controlled and exploited at everyone else's expense.
Imagine if Apple doesn't make their glasses: Meta keeps selling truckloads of them, as they get more powerful the smartphone becomes an optional accessory and then an unnecessary one, eventually they become an alternative to a smartphone and an app platform for third party devs.
It's the same story with VR, Apple does nothing and risks Meta or Steam building a viable platform where people want to use software instead of on their iOS devices, until the hardware can replace iOS devices entirely. (although VR is certainly more of a moonshot)
Who said it can’t do gaming? All the regular graphics APIs are supported.
For me, the economics are the exact opposite. I'd pay $1000 for a good gaming VR headset, but not $4000 -- because gaming is just a hobby that isn't really worth that much to me. Gaming VR headsets have been around for well over a decade, I've "been there, done that", and it's just not something that's worth that much money to me. However, I have no problem paying $3500+ for something that creates a new category of productivity and entertainment experiences for me.
Besides that, I actually disagree that the Vision Pro is not good for gaming. It's not good for traditional VR gaming, but using apps like Portal it's phenomenal for, e.g., playing existing PS5 games on a massive virtual screen, which in many ways I actually enjoy more than VR gaming, which is far too limited in comparison.