Apple, Apple, Apple. The firm is full steam ahead with its Vision Pro US marketplace debut. Auidences are watching, developers are already working on realityOS applications, and XR device vendors are making a move towards the spatial computing trend of 2024.
The impact of Apple’s headset is predicted by some in the XR industry to bring new eyes and fresh investments towards broader enterprise and consumer AR/VR/MR companies – already, it appears XR firms are taking note of the potential spatial computing trend of 2024.
Recently, insiders at Meta noted that the firm welcomes the new competition that Apple brings, with an idealized forecast that Meta Quest devices will become the Android of the headset market.
The recently released report noted how “Meta employees see the Quest and its software ecosystem emerging as a primary alternative to Apple in the space, filling the role played by Google’s Android in smartphones.” At the same time, the fresh mainstream push could reinvigorate Meta’s underembraced Metaverse service: Horizon Worlds.
On the other hand, firms like Magic Leap and XREAL are receiving millions in funding to potentially leapfrog the forecasted success of Apple’s Vision Pro.
The industry is booming thanks to a broader range of companies taking charge and experimenting in the space, such as Disney, Amazon, Google, Samsung, LG, and countless others, meanwhile bringing support for enterprise, consumer, and other use cases.
In the early years of Meta, it seemed like the Quest had a stronghold on the XR device marketplace, with a rocket on its back to take over the XR market. However, as the years progress, it appears that the space is expanding.
It is early 2024, and the year could flip. However, will the industry boom thanks to companies collaborating to innovate XR technology?
The foundation is getting stronger, and to discuss the ever-evolving space, XR Today hosted industry experts to analyze spatial computing trends, influential industry events, and the talent crossovers that drive the market.
This month’s featured guests are:
- Jay Latta, Speaker and Founder of The Fusionists
- Luis Bollinger, Co-Founder, Hololight
Is Apple’s Spatial Computing Step the Correct Move?
The Apple Vision Pro is incoming – if you haven’t heard already – the firm is looking to make a big splash in XR. However, the firm seems to be avoiding AR/VR/MR. Instead, Apple is moving straight towards spatial computing.
Apple is obviously looking to define itself and separate itself from a messy Metaverse past. However, will the marketplace debut pay off for Apple, and can the firm redefine the technology and its terminology? Already, it seems competitors are adopting the spatial computing moniker.
Luis Bollinger noted that XR terminology is “always a difficult topic.” According to Luis, “the Metaverse example is pretty good because I think two years ago everybody wanted to do something in the Metaverse, and obviously you want to make use of the fact that people search in Google for it, and you want to show up with your website.”
Bollinger added:
I think spatial computing is also a terminology that Microsoft has used a lot when introducing HoloLens in 2015/16 they used obviously mixed reality, but they were using also spatial computing. They were using expressions like spatial understanding and so on. So it’s just about getting everything into 3D. I like the term spatial computing a lot, and I think it’s something that can absolutely be used.
Bollinger also remarked, “I like a lot that Apple finally entered the market; it’s something that has been forecasted every year across the last ten years that I’ve been in the industry, and it’s really good that they are [coming out] with a first generation device that is looking very promising.”
The Hololight C0-Founder also explained that “all the enterprise customers we talked to, they’re definitely interested to have it and to have a look at what they can do with it.”
He also explained:
I think this will be very, very important. I like the technology, obviously, the features it has, the quality of how it is designed is great. I think it shows that there is a clear trend from classic virtual reality devices into mixed reality devices where you have the colour pass-through where you include the environment with the camera view, and this is something that all the other hardware providers will also add. Some have already liked the Meta Quest 3, and I like this colour pass-through a lot.
However, speaking on the rise of MR displays, Bollinger stated the question for him is, can it replace the classic AR see-through displays? He explained that MR displays from vendors such as Magic Leap and HoloLens may not replace classic AR in the short term “because of some regulations and safety aspects.”
On the other hand, Bollinger noted that the rise of MR displays “opens up the world of use cases,” and next-level components from headsets such as the Vision Pro, Meta Quest 3, and Lenovo VRX will open up new opportunities – “it will be like an evolutionary step for the virtual reality world; maybe even bringing AI and VR closer together, which is something that totally makes sense,” he remarked.
Jay Latta also added:
The marketing meaning behind all of this is already completely messed up. Metaverse stuff burned down every bridge. It is a good take to reshape it, to start from scratch, to call it spatial computing. This was simply a necessary step – as well as some kind of emancipation of different technologies because it should be multimodal and interoperable. It should not matter what kind of resolution you are using or what kind of brand. The assets that you deal with need to be the same for any kind of representation. Spatial computing, to take it as this overall thing, is quite a good move, I guess even while Apple stuff is always a little bit more pricey, in my opinion, it’s price-worthy.
Jay concluded by noting how it’s essential to understand that Apple and its devices set up a “benchmark where everyone is observing it, and then they will try to fulfil somehow this kind of benchmark with lower pricing, it will be just an enrichment of the whole ecosystem.”
The Impact of CES in 2024
Bollinger noted that CES is an “interesting and exciting time” for Hololight, partly due to the number of “big players” from the XR industry that show up to the event to announce new hardware and software solutions.
Moreover, Bollinger added that while the event is primarily a consumer-focused show, whereby an attendee can find XR groups introducing hardware for the consumer market, the event also sees an increased enterprise presence, which is “a huge driver” of XR technology.
Bollinger added:
The enterprise space and the consumer space, they have to help each other to move the entire community and industry forward. So, any announcement at CES about new hardware is also driving the work that we do in the enterprise space. The more people in the mass market who know about the technology, use the technology at home. The easier it is for us also to roll out technology in the enterprise space because technology adoption is a very, very important part of our work, and the more people know how to interact and work with these [XR] devices, the better it is to bring all these use cases into the market.
Latta also explained that “the whole conference and event space is radically changing.” Latta continued by adding that the emerging technology space and its end-users are not working within “isolated domains anymore,” whereby technology groups keep to themselves.
He noted that “islands of ‘nerdish’ cultures” where automotive is just for automotive, aerospace is for aerospace, and consumer is just for the consumer are becoming less isolated – becoming more universal, “CES has turned into a general or universal thing,” he added.
Latta added:
Right now with all of these emerging technologies, the consumers, the people in their private lives are the forerunners. So it’s, of course, natural that all of these companies are catching up and trying somehow to lead again. It’s a perfect fit. We will see as well more events that crossover. I might even imagine that, let’s say, an AWE, for example, might open up and invite different areas to talk. Not just focus on XR stuff.
Jay also said that emerging technology events like CES are “becoming more curious,” and CES is one of the “biggest” and “one of the most important right now; we will see what they will do in the future,” he remarked.
XR: The Coverage of Bussiness, Art, and Science
XR acts as a convergence between business, art, and science, coming together to create a relatively unique and new community with events like CES, AWS, IGS, MWC, and more; those representing airspace, entertainment, remote collaboration, and more are creating a crossover between the communities and individuals driving those sectors.
Moreover, the rise of related technologies like AI and digital twins are also contributing to enterprise XR use cases, with many associated technologies making up the uniformed umbrella of XR and its communities.
Jay Latta explained that the layers of XR for businesses were “developed as isolated domains,” however, they are merging. “This community around XR developed into something that connects all the other domains,” he added.
Latta also explained that “this merge of technologies will continue.” Meanwhile, there may not be any one leading company because industry success may be based on collaboration/cooperation – “our community started to understand that they are ecosystems, that they are part of a bigger picture,” he remarked.
Luis Bollinger also added, “all these conferences are very important”, as each event provides the space for firms and end users to learn from each other.
Bollinger noted:
I think the consumer market can learn from the enterprise market and the other way around. When we are attending the events and selecting the events that we’re participating in throughout the year. We’re always trying to find the balance between events where we clearly focus on the technology in the XR community – But then it’s also very important to join those events where you meet people from all kinds of verticals. Because, on the one hand, it’s important to understand what the technology can do. On the other hand, you have to come from the use case side, and you have to really think about what you want to do there are some challenges that the consumer and the enterprise market have in common. Questions about how do we roll out technology? How do we make sure that the content we provide is secure these are things that they have in common, and then they have different challenges also that really go down to the use case level.
Bollinger also added that with Hololight’s technology, the firm is also trying to address user-wide challenges, “we are also trying to address these things; we are trying to define an infrastructure and a platform that allows the useful usage of XR, and on the other hand, we’re trying to define a platform for the use cases.”
“In the end, when all those great devices are announced, people want to use it in the right way,” Bollinger added.
He also explained:
With the Quest 3, announced last year, the XREAL device that is coming, and obviously the Vision Pro from Apple. This is super exciting to see and plays a huge part also for us in the enterprise market because although I wouldn’t say that all of these devices help us in making benefits or revenues in the short term. They set the ground for what’s going on in the next years, and then there are also these devices and solutions that we can deliver on today, and that really have an impact on businesses.
To learn more and experience the full-length conversation, please check out our latest Big XR News Show.
