A media report has come out swinging against Apple’s Vision Pro headset, stating it has failed to innovate the mixed reality (MR) market.
According to an opinion piece from The Street’s Ian Krieztberg, the new headset did not bring anything new to the industry. The author wrote,
“But as with generative AI, Apple is not exactly the first to the game. Though the Vision Pro’s spatial computing design — which seems to make science fiction very real — seems new, even to the VR world, it’s really not. HTC Vive has been doing it for a while”
He later quotes Dan O’Brien, President, Americas, HTC, stating use case data from the Taoyuan-based firm. In the interview, O’Brien states that the industry moved “a step closer” to mass adoption. Additionally, Apple could advertise its mixed reality headset to “validate” the company’s technologies and their potential.
He stated,
“Apple did not bring anything new to the market when they announced this product. What they did was they took everything possible and put it into one headset and made a very, very expensive headset.”
O’Brien also added the price tag was “tone-deaf,” indicating a lack of knowledge of a target market.
The executive continued in the interview: “Vive’s XR Elite has the same mixed-reality technology as the Vision Pro. But the price tag is much smaller.”
He explained further,
“We have all of the features and functionality that the Vision Pro has, but you can add those on. You can add facial tracking, you can add eye tracking, you can add accessories and peripherals. We build our products to be modular based on the customer’s needs, based on the developers’ capabilities and based on the consumer.”
Concluding, O’Brien told The Street: “So we look at it and go, give users choice, give them flexibility. And don’t just burden them with this massive price.”
The news comes after Apple debuted the Vision Pro at its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in June. The mixed reality device also received mixed reviews, with some lauding it as the answer to boosting spatial computing to others slamming the company for its hefty price tag.
Biting into the Apple
Demond Cureton, Senior Journalist, XR Today, analysing the commentary from HTC’s chief on the Apple Vision Pro.
The industry has seen renewed passion for the Metaverse, much of which it can attribute to Apple’s big debut on the immersive stage. Apple’s Vision Pro headset, whilst seeming more like a proof-of-concept device, has nevertheless reinvigorated discussions on developing XR technologies for appropriate use cases.
As a journalist, it is also quite refreshing to see the industry trade blows with each other in a genuinely competitive market. These conversations should take place to increase competition amongst XR vendors while enticing firms to innovate and lower their prices for consumers and enterprises.
Many saw this after Mark Zuckerberg, Chief Executive, Meta lowered the price of the Quest Pro from $1,500 to $1,099 USD. This came amid the release of Pico 4 Enterprise and HTC’s XR Elite and Flow head-mounted displays (HMDs). Additionally, the company plans to release its Quest 3 at a more conservative $500.
This could allow a greater entry price for potential buyers from consumer and business markets to kick off their immersive journeys. Furthermore, it opens doorways to scaling up the market for future games, applications, and solutions.
Despite this, maintaining conversations on XR and the Metaverse will become the way forward. Both the industry and consumers can determine how these products will take shape in the push to dominate the space.
Apple’s ‘Unfinished Symphony’
In his interview, O’Brien makes some very salient points that his company did not want to “burden” buyers with the expensive headset price tag. A modular, feature-scalable device can better adapt headsets to bespoke markets and user bases. Enterprise users have traditionally purchased their kit for specific reasons tailored to their objectives.
However, consumers could adopt an ‘Apple Store’ experience where they could potentially pick and choose the specifications for their headsets. This could work similarly to buying an iPhone, MacBook, or other device at an official Apple store or reseller. All of the company’s featured products sell in this bespoke manner.
Achieving this level of customisation may also lead to at-scale production and a significant price drop for base model headset configurations. This could start with a baseline price of roughly $1,500, or $2,000 cheaper than the maxed-out $3,500 mark.
The good news is that Apple has not officially released the Vision Pro to the market yet. This will provide the company wiggle room to tweak its pricing, configuration, distribution, and supply chain issues ahead of launch.
The fact that the headset has taken nearly two years of media hype and speculation to debut at the WWDC leaves it with a continual feeling of unfinishedness. This is characteristic of Apple as it normally builds its products with incremental changes and then makes leaps into new territories. Expect the trend to continue with the Vision Pro.
Sussing Out the Target Market
One should keep in mind the profound potential for innovation with this device. As a first, Apple will strategically cultivate its ‘army’ of coders — some of the largest in the industry — to tackle new use cases.
Apple has historically earned 10 percent of desktop operating system (OS) market shares across the industry. However, over the last few years, it has gained significant ground in popularity, mostly in the United States.
According to a Patently Apple report citing Statcounter data,
“The rapid drop in market share can be attributed to stiff competition from its competitors, which are macOS from Apple and Chrome OS from Google. As of February 2023, Windows holds 57.37% of the desktop OS market in the US, macOS holds 29.62% and Chrome OS holds 7.47%. Linux holds 2.55%, whereas other miscellaneous desktop operating systems hold 2.97%”
This indicates a surge in interest in MacOS product use and could realise Apple’s potential to expand development even further. With more people using Apple products, new waves of developers could enter the field to programme across Apple’s family lineup.
Should the Cupertino-based firm play its cards correctly, it can apply its strategy to the Vision Pro and future device generations. This will offer the best ‘stick and carrot’ method for developing its XR hardware.
Patents for Future Innovation
According to Patently Apple, the company has also launched a fresh wave of intellectual property (IP) for the Vision Pro on Saturday. These would allow controllers to work interoperably with the gaming on the Apple TV.
One of the patents covers,
“Electronic hand-held game units; computer game consoles; video game interactive handheld remote controls for playing electronic games; game controllers for computer games; controllers for game consoles; protective carrying cases specially adapted for handheld video games”
This “confirms Apple’s intent to dive deeper into gaming with [the] Apple Vision Pro,” the article read.
To date, it is difficult to recall any gaming console rivalling the price tag of Neo Geo’s Gold System debut in the United States in the 1990s. At the time, Japanese tech giant SNK opened the price at $649.99.
This is equivalent to $1,515.04 USD in 2023, up $866.04 at an average inflation rate of 2.60 percent from 33 years ago — something Apple should consider when entering the gaming domain.
Additionally, Apple plans to expand to “educational services” for “seminars, workshops, classes, webinars, conferences, online instruction, and distance learning programs.” The wave of patents suggests that Apple is spending serious money on VisionOS’s technical capabilities, leading to greater use cases for headsets.
Notwithstanding its genius, the Apple must fall from the tree to the average user’s hands for it to explore these imaginative possibilities. Only then can it share that ingenuity with the average consumer and enterprise.
