Apple CEO Tim Cook again touts benefits of AR over VR, says 'no substitute for human contact'
In an interview published Thursday, Apple CEO Tim Cook reaffirmed his company's stance on augmented reality, saying the technology's ability to amplify human experiences makes it more likely to succeed as compared to virtual reality.
Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks to BuzzFeed Japan reporter Eimi Yamamitsu. | Source: BuzzFeed Japan via Twitter
Speaking to BuzzFeed News, Cook once again reiterated the company's bullish position on AR. While the publication was unable to suss out details on future plans, it did nab a soundbite that sheds a bit of light onto the company's thinking.
"There's no substitute for human contact," Cook said. "And so you want the technology to encourage that."
Since first broaching the subject during a quarterly investors conference call in July, Cook has repeated the same refrain when asked about a potential Apple branded AR/VR offering.
"We have been and continue to invest a lot in this," Cook said in July. "We are high on AR for the long run, we think there's great things for customers and a great commercial opportunity. So we're investing."
The Apple chief expanded on the topic in today's interview using expectedly vague terms.
"VR, I think, has some interesting applications, but I don't think it's a broad-based technology like AR," Cook told BuzzFeed News. "Augmented reality will take some time to get right, but I do think that it's profound. We might ... have a more productive conversation, if both of us have an AR experience standing here, right? And so I think that things like these are better when they're incorporated without becoming a barrier to our talking. [...] You want the technology to amplify it, not to be a barrier."
The comments are basically an abridged version of comments offered to major media outlets in recent weeks. Cook said the same thing, using interchangeable verbiage, in August, September and, most recently, two weeks ago at the Utah Tech Tour hosted by Sen. Orrin Hatch.
Distilled to its most basic elements, augmented reality can be described as layer of digital information overlaid onto the physical world, like the camera and screen interface used in Pok?mon Go. More immersive technology relies on specialized transparent displays, though these exotic solutions are still in their infancy and as such come at a high price. A number of tech companies are investing in the space, including Google's Glass product and Facebook's Oculus Rift platform.
Apple is also making strategic AR segment purchases like last year's acquisition of motion capture specialist Faceshift and German AR firm Metaio. The company is also developing supporting tech in-house, as evidence by a growing portfolio of AR/VR patents like transparent displays, iPhone-powered virtual reality systems, advanced computer vision tech and more.
Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks to BuzzFeed Japan reporter Eimi Yamamitsu. | Source: BuzzFeed Japan via Twitter
Speaking to BuzzFeed News, Cook once again reiterated the company's bullish position on AR. While the publication was unable to suss out details on future plans, it did nab a soundbite that sheds a bit of light onto the company's thinking.
"There's no substitute for human contact," Cook said. "And so you want the technology to encourage that."
Since first broaching the subject during a quarterly investors conference call in July, Cook has repeated the same refrain when asked about a potential Apple branded AR/VR offering.
"We have been and continue to invest a lot in this," Cook said in July. "We are high on AR for the long run, we think there's great things for customers and a great commercial opportunity. So we're investing."
The Apple chief expanded on the topic in today's interview using expectedly vague terms.
"VR, I think, has some interesting applications, but I don't think it's a broad-based technology like AR," Cook told BuzzFeed News. "Augmented reality will take some time to get right, but I do think that it's profound. We might ... have a more productive conversation, if both of us have an AR experience standing here, right? And so I think that things like these are better when they're incorporated without becoming a barrier to our talking. [...] You want the technology to amplify it, not to be a barrier."
The comments are basically an abridged version of comments offered to major media outlets in recent weeks. Cook said the same thing, using interchangeable verbiage, in August, September and, most recently, two weeks ago at the Utah Tech Tour hosted by Sen. Orrin Hatch.
Distilled to its most basic elements, augmented reality can be described as layer of digital information overlaid onto the physical world, like the camera and screen interface used in Pok?mon Go. More immersive technology relies on specialized transparent displays, though these exotic solutions are still in their infancy and as such come at a high price. A number of tech companies are investing in the space, including Google's Glass product and Facebook's Oculus Rift platform.
Apple is also making strategic AR segment purchases like last year's acquisition of motion capture specialist Faceshift and German AR firm Metaio. The company is also developing supporting tech in-house, as evidence by a growing portfolio of AR/VR patents like transparent displays, iPhone-powered virtual reality systems, advanced computer vision tech and more.
Comments
I don't see the connection as they have completely different applications.
Apple would be wise to facilitate a platform for both.
When I look at a scene I would benefit from seeing the names of people (those I know) in view and the names of streets in various directions and compass headings. These are the simplest augmented views and complex technology but they certainly would simplify my interaction with the world.
Pure VR will be limited, aside from applications designed to appease, entertain the nervous system. Living on Mars, for example, completely isolated and lonesome and boring, unless you immerse yourself in VR.
And wait till you see what Apple has been working on in the HR space!
I think the technology is getting there. But there's still a long way to go from the big Hololens to something light and slick that feel not much different than a regular pair of glasses.
Just last week I was out with friends and simply told Siri: "find me food" since we were all looking for a place to eat. Siri understood and immediately gave me a list of all of the restaurants in my vicinity. At the same time one of my friends tried doing the same with their Galaxy device but it couldn't even parse what he was saying.
I see a lot of people talking about how Siri is so terrible but I really don't see it, what is so terrible about Siri compared to it's competitors? (Or in general)
Apple, as so often in the past, appears to be incrementally readying its product line to suddenly hit us with cool new functionality, in this case AR. Let's see what Apple has up its sleeve the day they roll out an iPhone in the mid-range price category that has the depth perception and processing power of today's iPhone 7 plus. Maybe it will take one more iteration to get that depth perception accurate enough for everyday AR, but Apple's obviously working hard on the building blocks they will need to rollout "Apple quality" AR.
Here are his words.
To be fair, I tried the same two-step sequence (when’s the next debate?; add it to my calendar) with Google Assistant running in the Allo app on Android, and it failed in the same way. I remain unconvinced that Siri is behind the competition, and even if it is, I don’t think it’s by much. ↩︎︎
And if he can talk about this, why can't he give us some guidance on where the Mac is going?