Tamara Scott predicts that Apple won’t release their augmented reality product this year because they’re waiting for it to be perfect — or at least paradigm-changing.
One of Steve Jobs’ legacies is customer experience perfection — or at least as close as Apple can get while still shipping products. Although Apple may be prepare for an AR or VR compatible product set, they are just now laying the groundwork for a product that, when it arrives, will have us wondering how we ever lived without.
Judging by previous product releases, Apple is delaying releasing its AR/VR headset because they don’t care about going out the door first. The OG Blackberry Phone with Email was: released in 2002, five years before the iPhone. Tablet computers have been around since 1987, but it wasn’t until the… release of the iPad in 2010 that the world saw the usefulness of the device. AR and VR devices have been around long enough that they’re starting to become commonplace, but few of us were brave enough to wear Google Glass in public, the Snap Glasses have a distinctive shape but lack the popularity and while many gaming and corporate training programs work in VR, the headsets are not exactly streetwear.
TO SEE: (TechRepublic)
Apple doesn’t seem to care about the power of being first. They don’t care if the word metaverse is part of their company name. Instead, they want to be the best. Because when a truly groundbreaking product is released that integrates the technology with our lives, the FOMO will carry the market.
Meta’s vision disappointed
Meta’s Horizon Workrooms and Zuckerberg’s vision of the ways we can use VR in our lives was groundbreaking. The metaverse conference rooms they flaunted at last year’s events were thought-provoking. They showed a vision for the future of work and life. In this view, location doesn’t matter as long as you have internet access. That is a hopeful and beautiful vision. But the product itself, the conference room they showed, was disappointing. It seemed like we were having a quarterly review meeting in the Wii Fit universe. Remember the legless torsos† The jerky movements of the participants? It was a vision that didn’t seem to go far enough – it literally had no legs.
And to some extent, Horizon workspaces feel right at home for those who spend a lot of time in animated worlds like Minecraft, Roblox, and other avatar-driven experiences that have been the mainstay of the metaverses until now. We rely on images to take us to new places, because that’s where our imagination finds the most freedom. There are also endless options for consuming avatars, and NFTs have contributed to the popularity of limited edition avatars and avatar accessories online, but that’s another article altogether.
Apple won’t get stuck in the eerie valley
The assumption Mark Wilson makes in his Fast Company article that Apple is preparing their mobile operating system for that AR world feels right. While Meta’s illustrated world is captivating, it’s not as potentially beautiful or useful as the AR world Wilson envisions from Apple.
Our brains are trained to search for the human form and faces. We recognize the human form in animations and illustrations (and sometimes toast or Cinnamon Buns), but what is closer to perfect will not be the creepy valley of increasingly better illustrated people and avatars. It will unite people with digital landscapes, apps and possibilities.
TO SEE: Metaverse Cheat Sheet: Everything You Need to Know (Free PDF) (TechRepublic)
Don’t hold your breath for Apple’s AR
I predict we won’t see a headset from Apple in 2022. They will let the Metas and other metaverse competitors build their fully immersive experiences. Facebook had the advantage of being the first follower when MySpace dominated the landscape. It took some of Tom’s wisdom and built one of the most successful social media platforms to date.
But perhaps Apple is making a wiser choice by learning from the mistakes of Google, Snap, Meta and the rest of waiting for the right confluence of technology. I predict – and sincerely hope – that this wait means they are building a wonderful tool that people and companies will want to invest in because it makes life just that little bit better.
