According to Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman , psychoanalyst Ming - Chi Kuo and many other influential names in the Apple pundit welkin , the companionship has come a recollective manner in developing a so - called mixed world headset – in other words , aVR headsetthat can also blend inAR elementsdrawn from the external world .
There have been reports that the headset will be a foretaste of future AR looking glass , and that it is a premium product that will be thousands . Gurman has repeatedly made claim thathigh - end gamingis an significant part of Apple ’s venture . But there ’s something off .
Apple and gaming – seriously?
Apple has never taken gaming seriously , or give gamers its full esteem . The society seems to be genetically condition to see games as bare pastime , as something jejune . Apple Arcadefeels fairly successful precisely because it has a focussing on families with children : it ’s a mode to get aside from the wretched - quality , exploitative freemium games on iOS rather than an alternative to biz console .
So why would Apple now on the spur of the moment have the approximation of accept games not just earnestly , but so gravely that it wants to vest huge resources in developing a niche product like an AR / VR headset – which is only likely to be buy by a fraction of all iPhone and Mac exploiter ? I have a very hard time with the logic of that proposition .
What ’s more , we have n’t pick up a individual hearsay of any collaborations with major game studios , something that is obviously a must for such a gaming political platform to take off . Nintendo is literally the only company capable of supplying its own platform with enough game to attract a wide audience .
And besides – a broad audience is Apple ’s handbag . The iPhone has given Apple a taste of world domination . It ’s scarcely a concurrence that the society seems curious about thecar mart , which also attracts huge possible sales . But mixed - realness headset ? There ’s no reason to believe it will ever be anything but a niche .
Apple ’s last venture into a niche mart , theHomePod … well , we knowhow that plump . And the HomePod cost a fraction of what the rumoured headset will go for .
The wrong audience
I ’ve begun to mean that the theories surround the Apple headset rumours have one key flawed premise : that the target area audience is consumer . hearsay of high - ending VR gaming envision Apple ’s headset primarily as a contender toFacebook ’s Oculus , but what if Apple has something else in mind ?
alternatively of consumers , Apple might require to make a new dick for creation . A tool for plot developer , 3D graphic artist , audiovisual artists , filmmaker and other originative types .
Today , it ’s well-nigh unacceptable to use a Mac to produce VR experience and VR games . But a consecrate headset could make this much more feasible .
Apple has made no secret of the fact that it learn AR as an significant future technology , and the rumours of AR glasses coming in a few years ’ time seem much more plausible as a fresh category of consumer technology . But for a future with AR around us , content is needed . Good capacity . Lots of subject . Who ’s go to make it , and why does it need to be create on Windows ?
If the target audience for Apple ’s mixed - reality headset is creative pro , that would explain both why the company would invest in something that has so few likely customers , and what the power point of it really is . Apple has a clear strategy to be “ agiotage for the masses ” with its consumer products . It ’s not in the company ’s interest group or nature to suddenly put resource into a product family that is fundamentally a niche .
But a headset that induce it loose to start creating content for the future AR world ? That seems like something Apple would be comfortable with .
This article originally appeared onMacworld Sweden . Translation ( usingDeepL ) and additional reportage by David Price . Main trope is a construct representative byAntonio de Rosa .
