Shin Ji Won reports
Edit: Peach
Will the release of Apple's MR headset rekindle the metaverse?
It's been 7 years, and the Apple headset is finally coming.
FT said Cook will drop a bombshell: the mixed reality (MR) headset at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June.
The headset is said to be equipped with dual 4K OLED displays, as well as advanced eye tracking and manual tracking sensors.
But the price makes people explode in an instant!
It is expected to sell for about $3,000 (about 20,000), which is three times that of the Meta Quest Pro.
Internal sparring, Cook takes sides
It has previously been reported that Apple's new headset may be called "Reality Pro".
Apple has high hopes for the "Reality Pro", hoping that it will become a "hot product of the year". In order to achieve this goal, it is said that the progress of the iOS 17 and macOS 14 projects has also been delayed.
Cook sided directly with Jeff Williams, the head of operations, and dismissed the design team's idea.
The operations team hopes to launch a "first version" of a headset similar to ski goggles.
Users can watch immersive 3D videos, perform interactive workouts, or chat with realistic Avatars through the revmade FaceTime.
However, the design team is conservative, hoping to wait for more lightweight AR glasses to be technically feasible before launching new products. However, it will be a few years before it gets there.
Given the market situation, Cook and Williams thought it made sense to join the competition now and iterate and improve the product in the coming years. The lower-priced second-generation headset is said to be already in development.
In terms of hardware, Apple's MR headset will be equipped with a Mac-level M2 chip, with more than 10 cameras inside and outside the device, which is said to have "the highest resolution ever in the headset market."
Apple has developed an operating system specifically for it, the internal name is Borealis, and the external is publicly called xrOS.
In addition, the new headset has video, AirType, and the ability to summon Siri.
A former Apple engineer said that more control over product development by operations is exactly the logical development of Apple under Cook.
You know, a few years ago, going against the will of Apple's design team was unthinkable.
But since Jony Ive left in 2019, Apple's architecture has been restructured, and Williams is now in charge of the design work.
Ive's previous role as chief design officer was split in two, with Evans Hankey in charge of hardware and Alan Dye in charge of software. Hankey announced in October that he would leave within six months.
Apple's 12-person executive team reflects a shift in the company's focus under Cook.
Cook himself served as Apple's director of operations. Of the 12 members, 4 were promoted through Apple's operations unit, and none succeeded Ive as chief design officer. Ive was responsible for iMac, iPod, iPhone and Watch.
Netizens said that this is why Apple is full of loopholes. At the political level... Apple's management is disconnected from the design team. Now there are 400 million more reasons to get products to market as quickly as possible.
iPhone moments for headsets?
Yes, for Cook, the stakes are high.
This MR headset will be Apple's first all-new computing platform developed entirely under his leadership.
After all, the iPhone, iPad, and even the Apple Watch were great products that Jobs conceived when he was alive.
During Cook's tenure, Apple's market capitalization growth has been phenomenal, from about $35 billion in 2011 to nearly $2.4 trillion today.
Although the Apple Watch and AirPods became the two best-selling products, Apple was accused of simply repeating past ideas rather than breaking new ground.
While the success or failure of the headset could have a huge impact on Cook's reputation as a leader and Apple's ability to continue to innovate, its initial sales may be just a rounded figure.
According to two people familiar with the matter, Apple expects to sell only about 1 million headsets in the first year, which is lower than the sales of the first generation of products after the release of the iPhone or Apple Watch.
Even if annual sales reach $3 billion, that's only a fraction of Apple's roughly $400 billion in revenue last year.
It doesn't seem like this goal is very high.
But Apple was slow to get off to a fresh start, but it's also common for it to take the market by storm a few years later.
Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a note to customers earlier this month that the market has historically underestimated the long-term impact of Apple's new product launches.
Apple typically sells more than 200 million iPhones a year, and last year shipments of watches were estimated at 50 million.
CCS Insight estimates that selling 1 million MR headsets will account for about 10% of the market. Less than 10 million MR headsets were sold worldwide last year.
Amit Daryanani, an analyst at Evercore ISI, said Apple often uses first-generation products to attract the interest of Apple's loyal users and serve as a catalyst for its large developer community.
This product allows application developers to understand how people are using the product and allows them to discover the most compelling development opportunities.
Last year, Cook said Apple had 340,000 registered developers building apps for its devices.
Hanish Bhatia, associate director of research institute Counterpoint, said, "We expect that Apple's headset will also have a hockey stick effect, with each generation improving over the previous generation."
Resources:
https://www.macrumors.com/2023/03/12/cook-ordered-headset-launch-despite-warning/
https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/11pgosp/tim_cook_bets_on_apples_mixedreality_headset_to/