“Apple thinks virtual reality is ‘really cool’ and, according to the Financial Times, has a secret team building headset prototypes,” Eric Johnson writes for Re/code. “We don’t know yet what, specifically, that secret team is doing. But considering the broad audience Apple tries to reach and the state of VR and adjacent technologies today, it would be premature for the company to enter the market now.”
“The lone device on the market, Samsung’s Gear VR, is still too geeky for most people,” Johnson writes. “As The Verge’s Adi Robertson put it, despite solid and affordable hardware and an early batch of great content, ‘using it is a process of figuring out all kinds of fascinating ways it doesn’t work.'”
“With the Apple Watch, it may have gotten in too early. The Apple Watch was a forward-thinking bet to get out in front of the wearables market, and if that was the goal, then it’s already working: Juniper Research says more than half of all smartwatches shipped last year were Apple Watches. But the jury’s still out on the entire category and whether Apple’s entree can turn it into an indispensable device,” Johnson writes. “The waters of virtual reality are even less well charted.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: A short trip into the future from now, Apple Watch will be looked upon as perfectly timed. We used iPhone for years before our parents and everybody ended up with them (or inferior facsimiles of them). That’s not to say jumping into AR/VR right now wouldn’t be too soon, but we don’t see Apple with an AR/VR product shipping date yet, either.
Note: Apple TV plays 360-degree video content. The free Littlstar 360 and VR Cinema app is available via the Apple TV App Store. It is also available for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch via the App Store here.
SEE ALSO:
Apple seriously ramps up their secret Virtual Reality project – January 30, 2016
Apple acquires Flyby Media; assembles large team of virtual and augmented reality experts – January 29, 2016
Apple hires leading virtual reality researcher – January 22, 2016
Apple TV can now play 360-degree video content – December 23, 2015
Apple is building a virtual reality supply chain with disruptive potential, new research shows – November 19, 2015
Analyst: Apple team exploring virtual reality/augmented reality – August 31, 2015
Apple exploring a new reality with purchase of Metaio – June 3, 2015
Apple patents perforated augmented reality display that you can see and hear through – May 29, 2015
Apple acquires augmented reality company Metaio – May 28, 2015
New Apple haptics patent application reveals diamond-layered trackpad that simulates wood, other textures – April 23, 2015
Apple granted U.S. patent for hybrid VR head-mounted display – February 18, 2015
Apple is working on VR user interfaces and gaming; looking for Oculus and Leap experts – February 10, 2015
Apple granted patent for display-based speakers for iOS devices – January 13, 2015
Apple granted a patent for devices with a transparent display – November 18, 2014
Apple’s new iPhones, iPads could feature haptic displays – June 30, 2014
Apple patent application reveals personal display headset invention – May 8, 2014
Apple patent application reveals wildly intelligent multi-tiered haptics system – May 3, 2012
Apple continues to tweak Apple TV video headset accessory – April 10, 2014
Apple patent application reveals sapphire flexible transparent display devices created with Liquidmetal – December 19, 2013
Apple granted knockout patent for head-mounted personal display – December 10, 2013
iGlasses: Apple granted patent for head-mounted augmented reality displays – July 5, 2012
Apple files patent application for haptic feedback touch-based user interface – March 22, 2012
The best reason for Apple to not get involved with VR? It’s fscking stupid.
So is you’re language!
Sorry Mom.
…and so is your language. FYI.
So was a smart phone and a 300$ MP3 player. Lol
My concern is Apple becomes so diversified that Apple loses focus in maintaining excellence across all product lines.
“My concern is Apple becomes so diversified that Apple loses focus”
Why do people bother wasting one nano-second of brain activity being concerned about things that Apple may or may not do? (Especially when it’s pretty much a certainty that it won’t happen… as if Apple doesn’t know what “focus” means.)
Well, Sean, what Apple does or does not do affects consumer purchasing decisions, stock portfolios, and Apple valuation. You know, the kind of stuff people discuss here at MDN every day. Or haven’t you noticed?
Apple should (and probably is) leak information to fuel rumors that it’s jumping into VR big time.
Let others jump into the quagmire and eventually when the technology justifies a go to market strategy, enter in a way that only Apple can.
Virtual Reality is for wankers. Tell me a practival application (not gaming) where this has substantial mass-makret payoff?
Video Conferencing! I don’t care how big the screen is and how much you try to pan and scan, the video conference is not up close and personal. It’s sterile. Take videoconferencing up to the next level with VR and you will see a market evolve.
How would video conferencing work if you and the other participants are all wearing VR headsets? You’d be able to turn your head to look at individual people, but all you would see is somebody wearing a headset.
The great advantage of a video conference instead of a telephone conference is that you can see people’s faces and body language. If their eyes are covered up in a VR video conference, it seems pointless.
Wankers is a mass market.
i would estimate about half the population !-)
Ah, yes. The issue is really about “the most profitable wankers!”
They need to stay away from virtual reality, and get back to reality distortion…
Wow. All these Wanker comments. We did not need an iPhone before Apple invented it. I think we are being infested by non registered trolls.
All ready to dump Apple in crapper cause you can’t remove the battery. (Remember how Apple would die cause you could not remove the battery. And now that is the standard. LOL.