Bloomberg is back again with a story about Apple that is almost certainly wrong - claiming that Apple will release a VR headset in 2022.
Apple isn’t looking to create an iPhone-like hit for its first headset. Instead, the company is building a high-end, niche product that will prepare outside developers and consumers for its eventual, more mainstream AR glasses.
As a mostly virtual reality device, it will display an all-encompassing 3-D digital environment for gaming, watching video and communicating. AR functionality, the ability to overlay images and information over a view of the real world, will be more limited.
Almost everything about VR is unlike what Apple represents:
- The most common case for VR is gaming. And while Apple excels at mobile gaming; VR is more similar to a desktop gaming experience - which Apple lags in.
- VR is an individual, but isolating experience. Almost everything Apple offers today is personal, but personal in a way that helps the individual more fully interact with their world.
- And most importantly, VR induces sickness in more than 20% of women and around 10% of men. It seems very unlikely for Apple to sell a device that makes so many people sick.
The article continues with more incredible ideas:
The company has also designed the headset with a fan, something the company usually tries to avoid on mobile products, the people said.
No, they will not sell a headset that has a fan.
To further reduce the device’s weight, Apple is planning to use a fabric exterior.
No.
By developing a less mainstream initial headset, Apple can invest in the underlying technologies, consumer education, content development and developer relations to give its eventual AR glasses the best opportunity to be successful — when they are ready.
Apple has already been doing this for years, by building AR into the iPhone and iPad. They don’t need to release a less mainstream headset to accomplish these goals.