Apple’s development of virtual reality content and software tools is fundamental to creating experiences that give headphones a future purpose. Its latest major new product, the Apple Watch, launched with around 3,000 apps but struggled to get off the ground because of it. Tech reviewers said few of these apps were useful. Similar shortcomings were afflicted Meta Quest Virtual Reality Glasseswhose sales last year exceeded 10 million, as many consider it a gaming device.
From the original Macintosh to the iPad, Apple has sought out products that appeal to a wide range of potential customers and have a range of uses. It sold about 240 million iPhones last year, about half of its $366 billion in total sales. Analysts said that to make the headset worthwhile, you’ll need utilities beyond the realm of niche video games.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has been talking about the potential of augmented reality for years. In 2016, he told investors the company was investing heavily in it and saw it as a “great business opportunity”. Around this time, several employees on Apple’s campus were reading “Ready Player One,” a futuristic virtual reality novel, and talking about the possibilities of creating Apple’s own mixed reality world.
Apple hired an engineer from Dolby Technologies, Mike Rockwell, to lead the effort. Two people familiar with the project said its early efforts to create an augmented reality product were thwarted by low computing power. These folks said ongoing battery power issues forced Apple to delay its release until next year.
The augmented reality initiative has caused discord within Apple. At least two members of the industrial design team said they left the company, in part because they had concerns about developing a product that could change the way people interact with each other. These sensitivities grew within the company in the middle The public is increasingly concerned about the time children spend in front of screens.
With Mr. Rockwell at the helm, the product will be one of the first to come out of Apple led by its engineering team rather than co-founder Steve Jobs, who died in 2011, and his former director. of the design, Jony Ive, who left the company in 2019. Mr. Yves and his designers led the Apple Watch project, which determined what it looked like, how it worked and how it was marketed.
Mr. Favreau’s programming shows how Apple tries to differentiate its product from the Meta. It also shows how the company is capitalizing on the relationships it has developed in Hollywood since launching Apple TV+ in 2019.