Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

October 1 news, June this year Apple released virtual reality headset Vision Pro, announced into the virtual reality field. This adds to Meta's Connect conference this year, which focuses on virtual reality.

At Meta Connect this week, CNBC reported, one word was on everyone's lips: Apple.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg enthusiastically introduced the company's latest VR headset Quest 3, which starts at $499 and will start shipping in October. Meta also introduced the growth of Quest Store, a virtual reality app store, highlighting that the app store has generated $2 billion in revenue since its launch in 2019, up from the $1.5 billion announced by the company at the conference last year.

The biggest difference between this year's Connect conference and last year's is that Apple's upcoming entry into the virtual reality market gives attendees a clearer understanding of the future development of the industry.

Apple announced in June that the mixed-reality headset Vision Pro will be available next year for an eye-popping $3499. While this is Apple's first foray into virtual reality, the company's long-standing dominance in high-end consumer devices and reputation in hardware have given Meta's industry event an unprecedented buzz.

Virtual reality and mixed reality are expected to remain niche markets for years to come. But a dozen attendees this week agreed that the tone is changing for developers and VR companies alike about the expanding potential of the industry.

Tom Symonds, chief executive of UK virtual reality company Immersion, said: "Apple's entry into this market will definitely arouse curiosity. "Apple has always been able to seamlessly integrate hardware and software. "

Before Apple released Vision Pro, the entire virtual reality industry was experiencing an identity crisis, venture capitalists were withdrawing their investments, and the popularity of metaverse and related cryptocurrency projects was declining. Meta, meanwhile, is losing billions of dollars each quarter in the process of building virtual worlds and forging a vision of the meta-universe, but Zuckerberg shows no signs of slowing down, frustrating many investors who see only rising costs.

Although Apple's head won't be available for sale for months, and it's unclear how many people will want to buy it or be able to, Apple's inclusion adds more legitimacy to Meta's efforts in the virtual reality industry.

At this week's Connect conference, Meta not only showcased the latest headsets, but also unveiled the latest Ray-Ban smart glasses developed in partnership with EssilorLuxottica. The new glasses go on sale Oct. 17, starting at $299. It can connect to smartphones and use Meta's artificial intelligence software to allow users to identify landmarks or translate signs when looking at various objects.

Aneesh Kulkarni, chief technology officer of Strivr, a virtual reality training company, said it would be a "huge loss of confidence" if Meta stopped investing heavily and stopped trying to push the virtual reality market forward.

Kukani said,"Meta is pushing, who has the money to push? "

He added that while $2 billion in app store revenue "may not sound like much compared to Apple Store," it's still a huge and important number. Thanks to the popularity of iPhone and iPad apps, Apple has a huge market, with Apple App Store revenue reaching $1.1 trillion in 2022.

Josette Seitz, a mixed-reality developer at Baltu Technologies, a social impact company, said Apple may have an advantage in attracting businesses that already operate on Apple devices such as iPads. She says it's conceivable that for a company where field workers currently use iPads for inspections or other tasks, the transition to the more immersive Vision Pro would be easier due to the greater interoperability of the devices.

Seitz said the Vision Pro is probably more of an enterprise-oriented product given its high price tag. In any case, it is important that more companies enter this market.

"There shouldn't be just one company," Seitz said."We can't let this market be monopolized. "

Gaspar Ferreiro, a developer at Coal Car Studios, a virtual reality company, called the Vision Pro's price "crazy" and said Apple was "gambling high."

"Businesses will definitely take that risk," Ferrero said. He believes that because of Apple's past reputation, some companies will invest heavily in Apple devices.

Meta faces challenges of its own. Despite being a few years ahead of Apple, Meta has struggled to bring virtual reality into the mainstream, and Ferrero isn't sure Quest 3 will be enough to win new customers who aren't industry insiders or developers over the cheaper Quest 2.

Ferrero said,"The average consumer may face a dilemma, do I have to pay an extra $200 for a new device? "

One of the biggest improvements over the previous Quest 2 is the so-called "pass-through" feature, which converts the user's vision into a color digital format, allowing computer vision technology to cover the entire real world. As it turns out, Quest 2 can be very blurry when viewing the real environment, with little color, but Quest 3 can be much clearer and the experience should be better.

For developers, Ferrero says, this means they have the ability to develop more engaging content and visual experiences that blend the real and digital worlds.

Jeffrey Morin, chief executive of Litesport, a fitness services company, said Quest 3's price was "out of my comfort zone buying Christmas gifts for my kids. "

But he also believes that improving transparency is valuable and critical to his upcoming mixed-reality app Xponential Fitness, which allows users to exercise with privately taught digital avatars in their living rooms.

When talking about working with Apple, Morin said that as the product develops, the price of Vision Pro may drop to between $1000 and $1500 in the future, and Liteport VR will also look for ways to develop related applications. The original Vision Pro was too expensive and users needed to carry a battery pack with them, which caused extra trouble for users when exercising.

Apple has the advantage of having a large customer base that is "more likely to pay for subscription services," which is a recurring source of revenue, morin said. In Maureen's experience, most Quest users are players who are more accustomed to one-time app purchases.

Although Apple's headset isn't available yet, Morin said he noticed an increase in the number of users once Litesports 'VR fitness app was launched, underscoring the excitement in the VR community.

"They opened their heads and said, Let me see what's out there again," Morin said. "

Ultimately, Apple's foray into virtual reality proves that the technology isn't just a Facebook affiliate.

"It doesn't look like Mark's little toy anymore," Morin said. "It's everybody's now. "

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