i wouldn’t normally be concerned since any company releasing a VR product with this price tag is obviously going to fail… but it’s apple and somehow through exquisite branding and sleek design they have managed to create something that resonated with “tech reviewers” and rich folk who can afford it.
what’s really concerning is that it’s not marketed as a new VR headset, it’s marketed by apple and these “tech reviewers” as the new iphone, something you take with you everywhere and do your daily tasks in, consume content in etc…
and it’s dystopian. imagine you are watching youtube on this thing and when an ad shows up, you can’t look away, even if you try to they can track your eye movement and just move the window, you can’t mute it, you certainly cannot install adblock on it, you are forced to watch the ad until it satisfies apple or you just give up and take out the headset.
this is why i think all these tech giants (google meta apple etc) were/are interested in the “metaverse”. it holds both your vision and your hearing hostage, you cannot do anything else when using it but to just use the thing. a 100% efficiency attention machine, completely blocking you from the outside world.
i’m not concerned about this iteration as much as people are not hyped about this iteration. just like how people are hyped about the next apple vision, i’m more worried about the next iterations with somewhat lower price tag and better software availability. i hope it flops and i know it probably won’t achieve any sort of mainstream adoption even if it’s deemed a success because it probably can’t get less bulky and look less dorky, but the possibility is still worrying. what are your thoughts?
The whole point of AR is that you can look away from the ads. Plus, it’s Apple, they’re not really in the advertising business anyway.
I doubt people are going to walk around with these things in their heads. With some noise cancelling capabilities they may replace offices or at least monitors, but you’re still tethered to the wall if you want to use them for more than two hours (at purchase, batteries degrade over time…).
Facebook already sold this thing, and it’s commonly used for games like beatsaber, VR video entertainment (adult or otherwise), and maybe some Metaverse stuff but in the form of VRChat. Watching a YouTube video on Meta’s data-driven Quest doesn’t have you jump up and shout “coca cola” to skip any ads, so I doubt its competitors will either.
I think AR ads will he more subtle. Placing 3D versions of a product on the table next to you and showing someone walking over and using it, for example. Or just regular video ads now, but with more depth.
If the ad experience will become too terrible, people will go back to 2D.
“The whole point of AR is that you can look away from ads”
No, it isn’t.
“Apple isn’t in the advertising business”
Yeah they most definitely are, they are just more subtle about it.
“I doubt people will walk around with this on their heads”
They already are.
I’ll stop now.