“2016 will unquestionably be remembered as the year Virtual Reality made a meaningful entrance to the tech world,” Steffen Reich writes for iDownloadBlog.
“On October 13, Playstation joined the fray, releasing the arguably most consistent and yet affordable VR experience with Playstation VR,” Reich writes. “If early numbers and reviews are anything to go by, this could be the product to help the technology cross the consumer chasm once and for all and attract mainstream interest.”
“Once submerged in the world of VR – and this comes from someone whose only exposure to the technology so far is limited to a shoddy $15 Google Cardboard set – it quickly becomes evident that the potential of VR is that of a sleeping giant,” Reich writes. “So what is Apple’s 2016 grasp on the development widely met with praise across the tech world? Well, for all we know Apple does not plan to take part in it. Tim Cook has been quite vocal about the company’s stern focus on Augmented Reality instead, which by some is conceived of as less socially isolating… But here’s the deal, this criticism does only hold water if you have already made the mistake of pitting the two schemes against each other, if you do not understand that they are thriving on two very contrasting premises: for all its virtues, Augmented Reality will never be able to deliver one of the key selling points of VR: Escapism.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If VR is a transformative as some suggest, don’t worry: There is no way Apple is going to miss it.
As the trail of related articles below attests, Apple’s interest in both virtual and augmented reality is apparent.
SEE ALSO:
Apple CEO Tim Cook: ‘We are high on Augmented Reality for the long run’ – October 14, 2016
iPhone 7 Plus is the starting point of Apple’s major push into augmented reality – September 28, 2016
iPhone 7 Plus proves Apple is gearing up for augmented reality – September 27, 2016
What iPhone 7 says about Apple’s future augmented reality plans – September 19, 2016
Apple needs to forget chasing Snapchat and go after the Augmented Reality industry – August 25, 2016
Tim Cook publicly confirms Apple has augmented reality plans – July 27, 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 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
No!
Apple won’t release a VR headset until computing has advanced to the point where the goggles don’t need to be plugged into a PC or a game console to work, and it weighs less than half as much as the tethered VR headsets do today.
Yesterday on ESPN there was an expose on this new sport called drone racing. It’s a sport mixing VR, drones and racing. There are cameras on the drones, which feed video into a user’s VR device. The user controls the drone with remote controls. This particular video was filmed two years ago, and showcases the sport in its raw form. ESPN is now broadcasting organized tournaments.
Activities that incorporate realtime VR will become more popular. Imagine combining VR with one or many errand robots. You could browse the grocery aisle with one robot and go mall browsing with another.
> You could browse the grocery aisle with one robot and go mall browsing with another.
In other words, the movie Surrogates starring Bruce Willis.
Yeah, except in the beginning people are not going to be immersed 24-7. By the time users will be able to experience all five senses, tech should of advanced enough to where we can shed our meat puppets for something, or somethings, a little more rugged.
Welcome to thew world of WALL*E.
VR-AR. are directly related technolologies.
and Tim Cook has mentioned a few times already.. “we are very very excited about the possibilities”
2016 will unquestionably be remembered as the year Virtual Reality made a meaningful entrance to the tech world
No it won’t. 2016 will be remembered as the year that piles of companies, at least 25, attempted to make something commercially viable out of current VR technology and FAILed. We’re going to end the year with a lot of companies looking to DUMP their VR tech if not go outright bankrupt.
2017 will be remembered as the year when the fluff was burned away and only those with a lot of R&D and investment money stuck it out. Whether there will be ANY ‘killer app’ for any killer application for VR is yet to be seen.
VR has been evolving at a deadly slow pace since circa 1993, when it was the new Gee Whiz! tech of the future. Here we are ~23 years later and it’s still fizzling. I’m hoping this year’s shakeout results in something the market cares about and buys. Hopefully that’s part of what 2017 will be about.
(I’m not talking about porn VR. I’ll let others chatter in that direction).
OMG. I completely forgot about attending some sort of VR conference at the San Jose convention center about 20 years ago. I recall a marketing lady there tell me about the engineers who used VR a lot having developed “computer face”. By consuming VR a lot they somehow stopped responding to people emotionally. Their faces always had a blank expression.
Fascinating. I believe it.
Spoken like someone who hasn’t tried Sony’s PlayStation VR!
It’s pretty awesome.
Sony already has probably the best products and perspective in the gaming market. I have not tried PlayStation VR and I suspect, if Sony’s marketing stay out of the way, that they could become the killer VR platform. But again, wait until 2017 for the shakedown and we’ll see.
I don’t know that I view Sony’s VR platform as the answer to the future of VR. I do view it as the first product that is good enough to establish VR as a viable technology in the eyes of end users.
Bilge like this gets 1 starred. Always.
I doubt VR will go far as most people don’t want to sit around with a bunch of shit covering their face and head. You look ridiculous with that on. A novelty or niche gaming/engineering/medical market at best. Could be great for those, but not mainstream.
AR, you can do anywhere and not look completely daft doing it, and it can be easily cross platform so you and everyone can do it regardless of device.
Nothing like having four of these stupid face masks with five mates over.
Apple and VR? Not likely. I remember Oculus saying how no Mac was worth using with their VR. In other words, they said Mac graphics suck, BIG TIME and they’re right. Tim Cook is too busy trying to greenify all Macs which means no powerful graphics cards will be allowed as they draw too much electricity for his taste. I still don’t understand why they can’t build at least one non-green Mac for professionals or enthusiasts.
At this point, I think VR is something that only tech-heads are going to use. 3D TV is still fresh in my mind. Consumers didn’t even want to wear those relatively light 3D glasses. Forget these ugly VR googles for family viewing. That’s just stupid to me. I might wear them for games but that’s as far as it goes. Wall Street is freaking crazy praising companies for that crap.
Your second para rather gives explanation to the first fiend it. Apple won’t over perform on graphics cards for something that in all honesty is far from perfected. You know what they are like they use a new highly publicised development to market and sell their new products so holding back on the present reality makes their advertised leap look all the more ground breaking at some spealised event to launch it.
I suspect that Apple is deeply involved in improving graphics hardware internally to give them that control and technical/performance advantage that the A series has given them. Rather than supporting Occulus efforts which does nothing for Apple presently, it will be happy to have them ignore the platform while they spend the next year or two preparing their own hardware/software combination for launch that will be perfect to be anounced in mind blowing style no doubt in their new Campus 2 theatre.
“MacDailyNews Take: If VR is a transformative as some suggest, don’t worry: There is no way Apple is going to miss it.”
Has anybody ever checked Apple Maps 3D? That is Virtual Reality. Now it is only from the birds view, but Apple is preparing the next step and that is the Street View. Apple is WAY ahead of anybody when it comes to virtual reality. They are doing it for the world and they have the technology for it. So Shut The F UP!
VR needs to be like Tony Stark does it, it appears in front of you and you manipulate it, no head gear needed.. When they can do something like that for real… then they might have something..
I’m betting the naysayers here have never tried VR. It is incredibly immersing, having potential to take you to other places and do impossible things. But that immersiveness is also a liability. You are very vulnerable and isolated in VR, and you have to be in a safe space. Someone could literally break into your house and steal your stuff right in front of you and you’d have no idea.
Apple is well positioned to do VR. Think a new product line like the iPad was in 2010. Apple has powerful processors that stay cool. A 6 inch 4K screen in a light headset with wireless ear pods and hand controllers, made with typical Apple quality would sell well as long as Apple has content for it. If Apple builds it, they will come with VR movies and games.