Meta thanks Apple for adding more excitement to its virtual reality conference

At Meta’s annual Connect conference this week, focused on the world of virtual reality and the Metaverse, there was one word on everyone’s lips: Apple.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is happy to introduce his company’s Quest 3 VR headset, which starts at $499 and ships in October. His company touted the growth of its virtual reality app store – the Quest Store i was born Since its debut in 2019, the company has brought in $2 billion in revenue, compared to the $1.5 billion the company announced during last year’s conference.

The big difference this year from the 2022 event is that attendees will have a clearer picture of Apple’s upcoming entry into the VR market.

The iPhone maker announced in June that the Vision Pro mixed reality headset will be available for $3,499 when it goes on sale next year. While this is Apple’s first major foray into VR, the company’s long-standing dominance of premium consumer hardware and its successful hardware reputation have created a buzz that has been absent from Meta’s previous industry events.

VR and mixed reality are expected to remain niche markets for years to come, but conversations with about a dozen attendees gathered this week at Meta’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, show that the tone is changing for developers and VR companies are changing in terms of scalability. . the industry

“Apple’s entry into the market is certainly intriguing,” said Tom Symonds, CEO of UK-based virtual reality company Immers. “Apple has always been able to seamlessly integrate hardware and software.”

Before Apple announced the Vision Pro, the VR industry was going through a mini-recognition crisis as venture capitalists withdrew their investments. investment With the decline of Web3 and related crypto projects. Meanwhile, Meta is losing billions of dollars every quarter as it builds its turnaround vision, and Zuckerberg has shown no interest in slowing down, frustrating many Wall Street investors who see only rising costs.

Although Apple’s product won’t go on sale for months and it’s unclear how many people will want or be able to buy it, the company’s entry gave some of the effort a sense of legitimacy.

In addition to introducing its latest headphones this week, Meta also launched the latest version of Ray-Ban’s smart glasses, developed in collaboration with EssilorLuxottica. The new glasses, which will cost $299 starting Oct. 17, will use Meta’s AI software through a smartphone, so people can recognize landmarks or translate landmarks while looking at different things.

Anish Kulkarni, chief technology officer at virtual reality training company Striver, said it would be a “massive loss of confidence” if Meta stopped investing so heavily in driving the VR market.

“Mita pays the model and who has the money to pay the model?” Kulkarni said.

He added that $2 billion in App Store sales “may not seem like much compared to the Apple Store,” a large and important number. Due to the popularity of iPhone and iPad apps, Apple has a huge market – $1.1 trillion in developer billings and sales in 2022.

Josette Seitz, a mixed reality developer at social impact company Baltu Technologies, said Apple could benefit from reaching out to companies that already use its products, such as iPads for maintenance and other related tasks. The company, which currently provides field workers with iPads for inspections or similar tasks, could make an easier transition to the more immersive Vision Pro because of the devices’ interoperability, he said.

Given its high price, the Vision Pro is likely to be a corporate product, Seitz said. Regardless, it is important to have more market participants.

“There shouldn’t be just one company,” he said. “We can’t keep it as a monopoly.”

Gaspar Ferrero, a developer at virtual reality company Cole Carr Studios, called the Vision Pro’s price “insane” and said Apple was taking a “huge risk.”

“Companies will definitely take risks,” Ferrero said, noting that some companies will spend money on Apple devices because of the company’s reputation and prestige.

The meta still faces its own challenges. The company struggled to mainstream VR despite a long launch, and Ferrero wasn’t sure if the Quest 3’s improvements over the $200 cheaper Quest 2 would be enough to attract new customers who weren’t the industry’s in-house developers.

“The typical consumer will probably face a dilemma: Should I spend another $200 on this other device?” Ferrero said.

One of Quest 3’s biggest improvements over previous versions is the so-called “crossover” feature, which converts a person’s field of view into a digital format, allowing computer images to be overlaid on the physical world. Viewing physical environments proved to be a blurry and colorless experience with Quest 2, but with Quest 3 it should be clearer and more pleasant to use.

For developers, that means the ability to create more engaging content and visually engaging experiences that merge the physical and digital worlds, Ferrero said.

Quest 3’s pricing is “out of my comfort zone, like buying my kid a Christmas present,” said Jeffrey Morin, CEO of fitness service Litesport VR.

However, he agreed that improving transitivity is valuable and was crucial to the company’s upcoming mixed reality app for Xponential Fitness, which allows users to train with real personal trainers who can be virtually sent into your living room.

Regarding the collaboration with Apple, Morin said that as development progresses, Litesport will look for ways to further develop the Vision Pro, and that the price will likely drop from $1,000 to $1,500 in the future. Initially, the price was too high and the Vision Pro user had to carry a battery, which caused additional inconvenience during training.

The advantage Apple offers is a customer base “more willing to pay for a subscription,” which provides a recurring revenue stream, he said. And based on Morin’s previous experience, most current Quest users are gamers accustomed to one-off in-off purchases.

Morin said that while Apple’s product has yet to be released, he noticed an increase in people using Litesports’ VR fitness apps after the announcement, highlighting the overall enthusiasm of the VR community.

“They took out their headphones and said, ‘Let me see what’s going on over there,'” Morin said.

Ultimately, Apple’s move into virtual reality is proof that this isn’t just an ambitious side project for Facebook.

“It’s not like Mark’s little toy anymore,” Morin said. “Now it’s for everyone.”

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